Lost in You
by krynny su
Summary: Buffy catches the eye of Gideon Cross.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

She was not at all what I had been expecting when she walked into my office on a humid, rainy Wednesday morning.

I'd been speculating what the acting CEO of ISC, a small yet major global trader of rare antiquities would look like, purely for something else to do besides the monotonous work that lay in front of me on a day-to-day basis.

I was guessing that Elizabeth Summers was more than likely some young, uptight, incredibly proper English woman, who would look down her nose at some ignorant, American bastard like myself, investing into her family business, as her father lay ill.

Either that or she was the English version of a Kardashian-rich, materialistic and spoiled rotten by Daddy Dear, even though I didn't really see Rupert Giles as that type of father.

However, the woman that followed my secretary into my office was neither of those things. It's a little bit funny how I could tell almost instantly. 

She was beautiful, yes, but so much more than that. She walked with such confidence. Her stride was short, quiet and graceful yet assertive. She was someone that was obviously used to being in charge, long before taking her father's reigns as CEO. Something that she had obviously picked up in her years as Head Slayer.

She had the most beautiful shade of blonde hair I'd ever seen. It fell just below her shoulders in big, bouncy curls. I could almost feel how soft it was.

I would bet nearly all of my money that she was the 'silent yet deadly' type.

No matter the fact that she was a very petite woman, it was her eyes that gave it away.

They were a beautiful shade of emerald green. They were a little bit of a murkier hue at the moment, but I could see them brightening up as she took in my appearance as well.

At least the appreciation was mutual. I could only imagine what those eyes would look like, staring up at me, heavy with lust.

Despite the heat and humidity, she wore a fitted blazer in a rich, sultry maroon with a lacy black piece underneath. They were paired with a pair of dark wash jeans that hugged every single asset of her lower half exquisitely. The heels she wore were most definitely _not_ made for the office.

Her poise screamed confidence, grace and resolve while her outer appearance screamed rebellion.

Blondes weren't my usual preference but there was no way I was about to discriminate against this beautiful creature. I'm lucky she didn't know how I was already quickly becoming putty in her hands so early in our meeting.

She smiled a small, polite smile and stuck out her hand.

"Mr. Cross, it's a pleasure to finally meet you. I've heard nothing but excellent things."

I was immediately taken aback by two things—her American accent and her _very_ firm grip.

"You're either talking to all the right people or all the wrong people." I joked.

"Just Giles." she smiled.

I raised a slight eyebrow at her calling her father by his last name, my theory on her rebellious side being confirmed.

Instead of commenting, I just ignored it and moved on.

"Sit." I said, gesturing to the plush couch in my office.

The plush couch I was now envisioning her sprawled out on, with her arms wrapped around my neck and her legs wrapped around my waist.

I quickly tried to erase the thought from my mind as to not make this meeting go from 'good-so-far' to 'awkward-as-shit'.

The smile on her face dimmed a bit and she gave a quizzical look as she did so.

"Definitely in New York" she mumbled.

"Sorry?"

She glanced up and it was very obvious that I was not supposed to have heard.

"Oh, um, I just…you know what? It's nothing. Just got back from London a few hours ago. Long flight. Not into making much sense at the moment."

"We could've postponed this until later today or tomorrow. We still can, if you wish to go home and get some rest."

I was suddenly finding my tight schedule to be extremely open for Ms. Summers. 

She shook her head. "No, it's okay. You were on my way from the airport. Plus I'm here now so it wouldn't make much sense for me to go all the way home just to have to come back later."

"So what took you back to London? The last time I spoke with your father's secretary, she had said that you had arrived a few days ago." I asked, conversationally, as I grabbed a folder from my desk.

"I just had to go back to….settle some affairs….that had come up unexpectedly."

Her reply seemed logical enough but I could hear the careful half truths entwined within.

"Couldn't someone in your office have taken care of it? So you didn't have to travel all the way back to London?"

"Not a business affair. Personal one."

She seemed more than a little uncomfortable so I dropped the subject.

"Family stuff." she added on.

The thought of my family passed through me with a flash of bubbling anger, but I quickly banished that thought away too.

"I can definitely relate to 'family stuff'. Would you care for a beverage? Coffee, water, tea?"

"If I ever have to drink another cup of tea in my life, I might implode."

I grinned and sat down in a chair opposite her, opening the folder. "I'll take that as a no then. Has your father told you anything about what we were planning before he…stepped down?"

A brief look of worry and hurt flashed through her eyes. I assumed it to do with his sudden illness.

"Not in so many words, no. He tends to keep the business stuff with the business people."

"I'll start at the beginning then. Your father—"

"Don't mean to interrupt," she said in a tone that implied exactly the opposite, "But he's not actually my father."

That rang through as a bit of shock.

"Oh?"

"Without delving too far into the boring details of my personal life, my parents got divorced when I was sixteen. Giles was the school librarian in the town my mother, sister and I moved to. He quickly became a close family friend-slash-father figure. He moved into the whole 'adoptive parent' thing when our mother died. We just say 'father' a lot because it's the easiest explanation. And it looks nicer on the paperwork."

So that's why she calls him 'Giles' rather than one of the many forms of 'father'….

There was one mystery solved.

"I'm very sorry to hear of your mother's passing."

Another thing we could relate on—a deceased parent.

"Thank you. Please, continue on."

I cleared my throat and launched into the lengthy explanation.

"Yes, as I was saying, the building your offices are located in went up for sale. I'd done some business with Rupert before as I'm more than a bit interested in the antiquities that ISC trades. I saw it in the newspaper and I made arrangements to buy the building immediately. I didn't—and still don't—want someone else coming in and trying to push you out. In addition, he and I had made an agreement for me to invest a little money into the background operations. We were in the middle of that transaction when he went ill. These papers are just the contract for that. Do you want me to go over them with you? They've already been signed by Rupert, myself and a witness for either side, in front of our respective lawyers. I just thought that you should know exactly what we've agreed to, seeing as how you're taking his place."

"As entertaining as that sounds, and I mean, really, sounds like a swell time, I think I'll pass."

"Are you sure? You should always read the fine print, Miss Summers. You never know what you could be getting yourself into."

Her mouth spread into a dazzling smile, showing off perfect teeth.

"Whatever it is, Mr. Cross, I'm sure I can handle it." Her tone was a bit flirty yet it indicated some sort of inside joke that I was clearly not privy to.

"Besides, the financials that you're referring to are going to be taken care of by Will-Miss Rosenberg, not me. I'm sure you remember her. Jittery redhead, about this tall? Couldn't miss her."

This woman had such an odd way of speaking. It was almost mesmerizing.

"Yes, we've met. She was the signature witness. If you don't mind me asking, why are you here and not she? If she's going to be the one dealing with the majority of this." I said, motioning to the paperwork.

"Not all of it, per se, just everything math related. I just figured that we, you and I, that is, should probably meet sooner rather than later.

"Oh? Really? Why sooner rather than later?"

I gave her one of my best seductive smiles. She blushed slightly.

"Because of the whole boss-change-thing, of course."

"Oh of course." I replied, still smiling.

I could see some of her cool confidence starting to slip. She glanced down at her watch and stood abruptly.

The image of her standing almost over me was an extremely powerful one in my imagination. My mind was racing with all of the things I could do to her, if she would let me.

"I'm sorry to have to cut this short but I just remembered that I have a date soon with some moving men. It was a pleasure to have met you, Mr. Cross."

She stuck her hand out again. I stood, my mind still racing with those horribly indecent thoughts, took her hand in mine and reciprocated the handshake.

"Please, Gideon. I was a pleasure to meet you as well, Elizabeth."

"Buffy. Nobody's called me Elizabeth in years. It's just another one of those paperwork things."

I glanced curiously at the odd nickname but didn't say anything about it.

"Buffy, then, it is. I might need my hand back at some point today, unless you plan on coming home with me later."

I could see the impact of my words as they hit her. The blush spread across her face, darker this time. She let go of my hand like it was on fire.

"Right. Sorry. Just email a copy of those papers to Willow. She'll go over it and fill me in on what I need to know. Have a great day, Mr. Cross. Gideon."

She exited my office with a bit less confidence and poise than when she had entered.

I smiled wide as I leaned back against my desk, feeling a mixture of arousal, delight and amusement with just a dash of confusion.

"A great day indeed, Miss Summers. A great day indeed."


	2. Chapter 2

_**(Buffy's POV)**___

Xander and I had left our places in Scotland and London and moved here to help Willow take over for Giles running the NYC branch of the Council.

There had been a slightly major incident involving some crazy, left field Wicca's and a major magic battle between Giles, Will and none other than that oily little snake, Ethan Rayne.

Giles had acquired some pretty extensive damage during the fight. Will severely stunned one of the Crazies, a middle aged woman, and completely obliterated another, a young man.

I personally escorted Giles back to London, merely five hours after Xander and I had first flown in. The hospitals here would be utterly useless. He needed care that they couldn't give if they tried. He needed the Coven. Stunned Crazy joined us on the flight back, as well.

Ember, a young yet powerful and particularly feisty Irish witch, wanted a few candid moments with her.

A few years ago, while scouting a new Slayer in Ireland, Giles and a few recruits came upon a rather nasty vampire attack in progress. An entire nest had two young girls cornered. Giles managed to save not only Ember's life but her little sister, Emily, as well while the recruits finished off the nest.

As it turned out, Emily happened to be the young Slayer-to-be in question. Ember's been forever grateful to Giles ever since. She's taken him on as a sort of father figure, as have most of the girls.

Needless to say, she was none too pleased to hear of him being severely injured. She vowed she would get this captive to talk while we worked on tracking down Ethan and the rest of his clan of chaos worshipping psychopaths.

Back in NYC, we put the fully trained Slayers on patrol duty so we could fully focus our energies on this.

We didn't have too much to go on, just a head count of how many we were still looking for (four, including Ethan himself) and one description that Will had managed to get down.

She said that it didn't click then, not until everything was over with, but she slightly recognized one of them as being the sister of her witch-y friend, Ginny.

Ginny's whole family was witches. Most of them were good, but she had confided in Willow not too long ago that not all were and she had been worried that her sister was heading that way.

After being placed on hold for what seemed like an eternity, we learned from her secretary that Ginny was supposedly in New York right now for business. Willow made a list of places that she had stayed in before on previous trips here. Xander and I divided them up and hit the streets.

If we could find this Ginny, then maybe, just maybe, her sister wouldn't be far behind.

I was on my last hotel and had absolutely nothing to show for it except a bunch of snooty staff members. I felt like Julia Roberts in 'Pretty Woman'.

Minus the whole hooker thing.

I was currently outside of The Gideon, aka Snooty Hotel Number Three, leaning against the wall with my phone to my ear.

"They were absolutely no help at all, Xander. Not one of these hotels would even confirm if she was a guest or not. Past or present."

"Yeah, I've hit the same wall, Buff. I think my eye patch scared them. All four on my list threatened to call the cops. What did they say to you?"

"I said I was with the Feds. Used my ID and everything. They all said 'get a warrant'."

"Rough."

"Tell me about it. I hate to do this but I think that we might have to call Agent Finn. See if he can pull some strings for us."

"Angel and Spike are going to just love that..."

"Xander, I'm grateful that they are on Team Us but I really don't give a shit about their feelings towards Riley right now."

"Hey, calm down, Buff. I know and I agree. I'm most definitely for anything that makes them wince. Let's meet back at the apartment and talk it over with Willow. I'll even buy lunch."

"Yeah, that sounds good. Maybe she's heard something from London by now."

"Alright, see you in 45." Xander said, hanging up.

I slipped my phone into my bag and turned around, still fumbling inside for my sunglasses. I walked smack dab into another person.

"Ooh, I'm sorry." I said, looking up.

My eyes widened as I took in the familiar face.

A face-and body-that I'm slightly ashamed to say had been starring in my dreams the last three nights, since our initial meeting in his office.

Seeing it for the second time, I was still stunned by the perfect structuring of his face. It was the kind that bored housewives and male models paid to have.

And his body? Holy Hell! Lean, muscular and just...ugh. Even though he'd been fully clothed when we'd met, I could just tell.

That perfectly structured face was framed by beautiful black hair that fell just above his collar. His eyes were the brightest, bluest blue I'd ever seen in my life. They were so intense.

As I stood there, awkwardly gawking at his beauty, said dreams floated through my mind. Dreams that involved his perfect body naked and entangled with mine.

I could feel my cheeks blush and I quickly realized how stupid I must look in comparison to him at the moment.

There he was, looking absolutely impeccable in just a casual t-shirt, designer jeans while I was dressed in a printed tank top advertising my love for London, probably the worst pair of jeans I owned and black converse sneakers. I was sweaty from my walk around the city and I bet my hair was a god awful mess.

No wonder the hotel staff treated me like they had.

"Mr. Cross-Gideon-hi." was all I managed to stumble out.

I couldn't make my brain focus on words. There was just something about this man that had made all my confidence disappear. I had almost literally been rendered speechless. Maybe because I obviously hadn't expected to see him? Or the joke he'd made the last time about going home with him? And then mixed in with the naughty dreams I'd been having about him...

Whatever it was, it was powerful stuff. The energy between us just sizzled and cracked. I'd noticed it a little bit the first time but it was much stronger now. The air felt purely electric. It made every single one of my senses, Slayer or otherwise, feel like they were sparking a fire.

"Buffy, it's a pleasure running into you. Were you visiting someone in the hotel?"

His question caught me off guard.

"Um, no. Not exactly. A friend of Willow's. She wasn't available."

"A short blonde girl said she was from the FBI, asking questions about a guest."

"What?" My nerves tingled and not in the ooooh good way.

"Something one of my employees just mentioned to me on my way out." He said it so casually, as if it was something he was used to hearing every day.

"Employee?"

"Acting CEO or a Federal Agent?"

His question was serious but his tone held amusement.

My nerves settled down as I decided to play the game right back.

"What if it's both?" I smiled.

"Either way, I'm impressed."

"I like to dabble."

"May I?"

"May you what?"

"See your ID, of course." His mouth curved up into a mischievous smile.

"Which one?"

"The Federal one. I don't think your driver's license is necessary, at the moment."

"Fun fact: I don't have a driver's license. What I meant was, American or British?"

"No driver's license? I wonder why." He tone switched to one of curiosity.

"Driving and Buffy don't mix. Never have, never will."

"I'm still waiting for that ID, Miss Summers."

"And I'm still waiting for you to decide which one."

"Both."

"I don't really think this is the best place to be discussing this. You might blow my cover." I said, jokingly.

"Fine. Have dinner with me tonight."

Inner Buffy back flipped to the moon. A dinner invitation from Gideon Cross?! Swoon. My dreams started on instant replay.

And then, in a matter of literally one second, reality crashed the party. I was supposed to go checking out the demon bars with Angel and Spike tonight. Damn it.

"I'm busy."

Saying the words crushed my soul a little bit.

"Cancel whatever it is."

"Can't. It's important."

"I suppose it relates to why you're out, bothering my employees about said certain guest."

"Can't say." I smiled.

"Lunch tomorrow then."

"I've got meetings all day."

AKA new Slayers were coming in for training with Xander and I. My destiny was really kicking the shit out of my social life today.

"Tomorrow is Sunday."

"I know the days of the week, thank you. I can't have meetings on Sundays?"

Gideon just stared at me for a moment or two. I found myself wishing I could read his mind.

"Dinner Monday night then. I won't take no for an answer."

"You're awfully bossy, you know."

"Thanks." He smirked.

"I'm not sure I meant it as a compliment."

"I took it as one. Let me just say that it would benefit you greatly if you accepted my invitation."

My curiosity skyrocketed.

"And why's that?"

His smile widened. "You'll see. Until then, Miss Summers."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

"So, what did you guys find out? Anything?" Willow asked as I dished out the pizza that Xander had brought home.

"Not much." Xander said, taking his plate and sitting down next to Willow at the kitchen island in our shared apartment.

The building itself was absolutely incredible. Level upon level of amazing apartments and suites, with one ample penthouse on the very top floor.

I was betting that the view from up there was incredible.

Don't get me wrong- our place was gorgeous and most importantly, we didn't have to pay for it.

Four bedrooms, three bathrooms, a spacious, open living area and a kitchen to die for.

It was a downright shame that not one of us cooked.

"Not much? So what _did _you find out?" Willow asked.

"When he says 'not much', he really means nothing. We found out literally nothing." I said, taking a bite of pizza.

"Not exactly nothing...we did learn that my eyepatch scares people to the point that they feel the need to call the cops."

"If we're looking at it that way, then I learned that I need to dress appropriately when I say I'm with the Feds."

"Okay so nothing then." Willow concluded.

We ate in silence for a few moments.

"I ran into Gideon outside of the last hotel." I said, conversationally.

"Gideon?" Xander questioned.

"The new owner of the building our offices are in." Willow answered.

"Oh. We're on a first name basis with him already?" Xander asked, raising his eyebrow at me.

"Xander, knock it off." I retorted. "It's not like that."

"BS it's not!" Willow exclaimed. "He's a serious stud muffin."

"Pictures please." Xander stated.

Willow obliged by whipping out her phone.

Xander whistled.

"Will, you have pics of him? How?"

"Oh Buffy. Join the 21st Century, will you? It's this nifty little thing called 'Google'." she said, turning the phone towards me so I could see.

Tons of pictures of Gideon were plastered all over. Mostly posed photos from charity functions but there were a few paparazzi shots too. I noticed that he was alone in most of them. I didn't want to admit to anyone how much I liked that.

"Right. Technology schmology. I just found it odd that he was just...there. You know?"

Willow got up and cleared our plates into the sink. She grabbed my list of hotels off from the counter and sat back down.

"You said it was the last hotel you went to?" she asked, as she typed away on her phone.

I nodded.

"He was there because he owns it." Willow answered, simply.

"Huh?" Xander and I questioned in unison.

"It's called 'The Gideon' and his name is Gideon. The proprietor is listed on the website as Mr. G. Cross. He obviously owns it. The Gideon is currently undergoing massive renovations. Probably why he was there."

I nodded, slowly. It did have a certain logic to it. "Google again?"

Willow smiled. "Yes, you would know stuff like this a lot sooner if you joined us on the web, Buffy."

I rolled my eyes. "I'm good, thanks. I'm already cringing about all this email stuff I have to do at the office. Back to the topic on hand, he asked me out to dinner tonight."

Their eyes went wide.

"Why wasn't that the very first sentence out of your mouth?" Xander questioned followed by "I _knew _it was like that!" from Willow.

I put my hand up to quiet the rowdy bunch down.

"I said no."

"I have to go patrol the demon haunts with Angel and Spike tonight, remember?" I added on.

"Dummy." was all Willow said.

"I totally would've gone in place for you! Billionaire playboys take precedence over Angel and Spike. They don't come knocking everyday, Buff!" Xander responded.

"Great, now you tell me. It's really no big though. We rescheduled for Monday night, after work."

Willow actually squealed. Followed by her and Xander high-fiving.

Jeez. Had it really been _that _long since I'd had a date? Was this actually a date? Better not get my hopes up.

"Relax-I don't think it's a date. He said something about it 'benefitting me greatly' if I came to dinner with him."

Xander and Willow both cocked their eyebrows at me this time.

"I believe the 'benefitting you' part means sex. He wants naked Buffy."

"XANDER!" I averted my eyes in semi-embarrassment.

"What? I'm right. It's a guy thing. I know the code. Who wouldn't want a sexy blonde chick like you? You're smoking hot, Buff."

"I think that he might know something about all this." I said, ignoring Xander.

"I'm going to have to agree with Xander on this. As your bestest friend in the universe, I'm going to have to advise you to go for it."

"I second that notion. I'm secure enough in my masculinity to admit that he's an attractive man."

"I'd go ex-gay for twenty minutes in a locked closet with him."

I felt like my eyes were going to bug out of my head.

"...Anyway...any news from London?" I asked, switching the subject.

"I talked to Faith earlier. Giles' health is improving, but it's slow. She said that one of the healers suggested putting him in a forced sleep-like an induced coma. They are still trying to work out one of the curses that's attached to his leg and they think it better if he weren't awake for it. Said it could get pretty painful."

"What's the curse?" I asked, pain filling my chest. I absolutely could not and would not, endure it, should something happen to him. I was already filled with guilt over not being here when he & Willow had been attacked.

"Something bacteria laden. It's causing infection after infection. They get one infection cleared up and another one comes right along after it."

"Okay tell them to go ahead with the forced sleep thing, ASAP. I don't want him to suffer anymore than he has to." I said.

Willow nodded. "You're feeling guilty, Buff. I get it. But you shouldn't be. If you had been here, we still would be in the same spot we are now. Magical combat, much like physical combat, relies on equal numbers for both sides. That's the only reason that Ethan got away- he blindsided us, six to two. You being here wouldn't of made the slightest difference."

I knew she meant well, I really did, but her words just didn't comfort me any. I refused to believe that I would've been no help.

I may not be magical but I'm sure as hell strong enough to knock out a few psychopathic Wicca's.

"I'm going to go get ready now." I said, standing and excusing myself from the table.

"There's still a good four hours till sundown." Xander said.

"Yeah, I know. It's going to take me at least that long to mentally prepare for dealing with those two together."

I was suddenly wanting to call Gideon and tell him that I could go tonight, that my plans had been cancelled, and send Xander out with Angel & Spike.

I hadn't seen either one of them in over a year and I was quite fine with that.

The betrayal I had felt over Angel and Spike keeping his reappearance a secret was deeply rooted and wasn't going away for a long, long time. If ever.

They had actually been quite respectful about keeping their distances from me, only ever dropping into the Council when absolutely needed. This was the first time I was going to be spending any length of time with them at all since I found out a few years ago.

I closed the door to my room and instead of getting ready, I just decided to lay down and nap. I was going to need _all _my strength, inner and physical, for tonight.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

**A/N: **The _Angel _storyline with Darla and Drusilla never happened. Darla remained dead after Angel killed her in S1 and Drusilla died after being staked by one of the newbie Slayers in London.

This chapter is a bit on the long side, sorry! I just couldn't find a space to cut it! :)

I spun, dipping the top half of my body down to retrieve Mr. Pointy while kicking my leg out, making contact with the vamp's face. He stumbled back but didn't fall.

I lifted myself up and was about to go for another attack when Spike came running at him from the side, tackling him to the ground. Angel jumped in after and shoved a stake through his heart.

I rubbed my forehead, trying to force the looming headache to go away.

"Pretty sure I could've handled that, guys. Slayer twelve years and running, you know."

They glanced between each other.

"Team effort?" Spike offered.

My annoyance was simmering awful close to the top of the pot by this point.

"I could've taken care of one measly little vamp." I said, turning to walk out of the alley way.

"Buffy-we're just trying to-"

"Help. Yeah, I get it." I said, cutting Angel off. "What's the next place on Willow's list?"

My nerdy little witch had drawn up yet another list for me-this one detailing the places that she thought down and out witches and warlocks might frequent.

The first two places were 'witch only' but Willow's name held a lot of power in the community and I got entry to scope it out. Angel and Spike were forced to stay outside due to strict "no demons allowed" policies at both places.

I didn't find anything useful in either spot but I left my name and number with the owners and staff members if they heard anything.

I wanted Ethan to know I was coming. I wanted him to be quaking in his cowardly little boots.

The last place we were at was just a plain old demon bar called Sully's. I let Angel and Spike go in and take the reigns on this one, not wanting to stir anymore trouble up with my presence.

Unfortunately, and actually quite expectedly, they pissed off a few vamps that had recognized them as being associated with the Council. Hence the vamp that was now currently a pile of ash in the alley way.

"It's a place called Rebellion." Spike answered. "Just a few blocks east of here."

"Let's go then."

Rebellion was _not_ a demon bar by any standards at all. It was an outright nightclub, disturbingly loud techno music and all.

"It would be the ideal place for someone to hide." Spike said.

"It's dark and crowded. What could be better?" Angel agreed.

I had to admit...the logic was there.

Angel paid the cover charge and we were in. We decided that splitting up was probably going to be the way to go seeing as how the place was huge.

The bar was at the farthest wall in the back, with the biggest dance floor I'd ever seen in the middle. There were tables scattered about but they only seemed like they were being used as handbag and jacket holders.

Angel went to the left, up a grated metal staircase that led to a grated metal walkway. I could only imagine the shenanigans that were going on up there.

Strike that. I _didn't _want to imagine what was going on up there. Not at all. Blech.

Spike went to the right and soon blended in with the crowd, leaving me the bar area and the middle half of the dance floor.

As I waded through the throngs of sweaty dancers, I found myself thoroughly appalled at the fashion choices that were being made here. I saw more neon, cut spandex,micro-mini's, leather outfits and stripper heels than I'd ever seen in my entire life.

If I'd ever caught Dawnie going out dressed in something like that, she would've been grounded for eternity.

Needless to say, I was feeling very oddly dressed in my skinny jeans, teal lace tank top and ballet flats.

I reached the bar and ordered a drink. As the bartender handed me my vodka and cranberry, I slid him a picture of Ethan.

"Ever see him in here before?"

"Maybe" he said, barely glancing at it.

I rolled my eyes and handed him a twenty-way more than my drink cost.

"Nope. Never seen him before." he said, taking the money and walking away.

"Angel makes that look so easy." I said to myself. I downed my drink in two swallows and walked onto the dance floor, intending on finding Angel or Spike. Someone that was better at it than myself.

I got half way into the crowd when I sensed someone behind me. A specific someone.

I too a deep breath, keeping my back to him and wondering about the various ways this night could get worse.

"Salvatore."

His name was just barely a whisper on my lips but I had no doubts in my mind that he had heard me.

Salvatore Brugetti was _not _someone that I was ever interested in seeing again. Ever. In fact, our last meeting, when I broke up with him, ended with me threatening to stake him if he followed me.

He was a beautiful creature-brown, spiky hair, gorgeous olive skin, the sexiest Italian accent and abs to die for. He was thousands of years old and because of that, he always knew how to see the bright side of everything. He knew when to be the perfect gentleman-and when not to be.

Our little Italian fling was perfect while it lasted. So perfect, that I eventually ended up wanting more and he did too.

Yep. I fell for Sal faster than a cement block hitting water.

Until I found out just how greatly our versions of 'more' differed.

I was thinking trading house keys and starting drawers at each other's places. He was thinking that he would turn me so we could 'be together, forever.'

Um, that's a big _**HELL NO **_in my book.

I broke our relationship off, running to London and hiding myself amongst the new recruits, until now.

"I thought I smelled you."

"That's disgusting." I said, turning around to face him.

Damn it. He was still as gorgeous as he was the day I left him. Stupid unchanging vampires. Tonight, he was dressed modern in a navy pinstripe jacket, cream colored v-neck top, jeans and a fedora that matched his jacket.

"Thank you."

"Really not a compliment..."

"How I have missed you, my dear Slayer." he smiled, his voice laced with nostalgia.

"I'd love to say the same...wait, no. I wouldn't."

He laughed. "You're still you."

"Same old Buffy." I muttered. "What are you doing here?"

I was hoping against all hope that he hadn't tracked me down and was paying a surprise visit. I could only handle so many ex-boyfriends at once.

"I'm here on business. I'm attending a charity function next week, on behalf of the clothing line."

Sal was the main man behind the Brugetti fashion line. It had been played up as a family business since it's founding nearly 75 years ago, handed down to the first born in each generation, but it had been just Sal, from the very beginning. It was an easy front.

"We are having our grand re-opening of the new boutique here soon and I thought that the free press couldn't hurt."

I nodded, uninterested.

"If you're free a week from today, I'd be delighted at you joining me."

I blinked at him, my eyes wide with obvious shock. Did he forget that I had threatened to stake him? Maybe after thousands of years of being around, death threats didn't cut it anymore. Irregardless, there's no way in hell I was going anywhere with him, especially as his date.

"Still want to turn me and keep me forever?"

His eyes lit up, hopeful.

"It's my dream come true, amore mio."

"Then my answer is, and always will be, a resounding **no**."

"You wound me."

"Right about now, I would love to."

"I see you are still consorting with the two fools." he said, nodding behind me.

Angel and Spike were standing, arms folded and glaring directly at Sal.

Perfect. This could _definitely _make for a worse night. The three of them had some sort of long, exceptionally drawn out feud with each other. I never asked but I was betting all my chips on it being from their days spent with Darla and Drusilla, when they were known as _'The Scourge of Europe'_.

A big part of me was ecstatic they were there, though. It was nice to know I had back up.

"At least they don't want to turn me into a bloodsucking monster. More than I can say for you."

"Still so feisty, amore mio." he said, reaching his hand out to caress my face.

I grabbed his arm and twisted until I heard it crack.

"Don't touch me." I growled.

Angel and Spike were right behind me in an instant, snarling for a fight.

"Your temperament...how I miss it." Sal laughed, cracking his broken bone back into place. "It was what made you an especially perfect bed mate." he added, his eyes filling with lust.

"Stay away from me, Salvatore. I meant what I said. I will kill you." I said, my anger reaching it's boiling point.

"Or you'll die trying." he smirked. "It was a genuine pleasure running into you, amore mio, however, I should be going. I've upset you enough for one evening, I think."

He reached his hand back out to me and I stepped back, using Angel and Spike to shelter myself.

He grinned and then tipped his fedora at them.

"Gentlemen. Always nice to see you. Please forward my hello's to Darla and Drusilla."

"Would love to but they're long gone now. Nasty little piles of dust." Angel said. His tone was pure ice.

"Shame. They were such fun spirits. Wild and insatiable, much like our Buffy."

"Goodbye, Sal." I growled. I grabbed Angel and Spike, pulling them through the crowd and away. I didn't let go until we were safely outside the club.

I sat down on the curb, my head in my hands.

"Does this seriously have to be a turf war between you three _every single time _you meet? Can't you just, I don't know, ignore him or something?" I yelled, angrily.

Angel started to say something but was cut off by Spike.

"He stole our women!"

"Yeah, two hundred years ago! Probably time to get over it!"

Spike started to respond but Angel hushed him and came over to sit by me.

"I know you're upset, Buffy, but taking it out on us isn't the way to comfort yourself."

I sighed. "You're right. I'm sorry. I'm being an asshat. He just, ugh. Makes every single one of my nerves boil."

"We've been dealing with him a lot longer than you have, pet. We know."

"I think I'm ready to disband this little adventure for tonight, if you don't mind. I need to go somewhere and get my thoughts straightened out."

"I don't really think that it's safe-" Angel started.

I glared.

He stood up and smiled, taking the hint well. "Have a great night, Buffy. Call if you're in trouble?"

I nodded, standing up myself. "I will call you if I run into Sal again, I promise."

"Spike and I will finish going through this list tonight." he said, taking Ethan's picture from my hands. I had forgotten that I'd even been holding it.

"Thanks. Check in with us tomorrow. Xander and I will be at ISC training new recruits all day."

Angel nodded and turned away, dragging Spike with him.

They had really stood their ground for me with Sal. It made some of that betrayal I felt slip away.

I stretched my senses out, making sure that Salvatore hadn't followed us outside. When I was absolutely sure that I was alone, I started walking.

A few blocks down, I ran into another whole stretch of nightclubs. Nothing that suited my tastes, though. I wanted someplace quiet-ish. Somewhere I could hear myself think. I wasn't going to find that in a building full of crappy auto-tuned music.

As I was making my way past 'Club Row', an attractive young man stepped out and offered me a business card.

Hawkers were a common item around this part of town. They would line up and hand out flyers for whatever establishment they worked for, trying to get all the people away from one business and into theirs.

"If you show this at the door, entry is immediate and free. No waiting."

I skimmed him over before accepting the card. He was exceptionally clean cut, neat and fashionable. He was wearing an upscale, black crew cut t-shirt, designer jeans and his watch had diamonds all over it.

Wherever he worked must be pretty swanky. I accepted the card with a small _thank you_ and walked in the direction he pointed me in.

I got to the lounge in question in about ten minutes. The line to get in was ridiculous. It stretched down the block and all the way around the corner.

True to the Hawker's word, the little business card was my ticket to a free and no wait entry. I checked this into the _something that has actually gone right today_ column and made my way in.

Once inside, I was greeted by one of the hostesses. She led me through the middle and up a set of stairs, into a much quieter section that overlooked the empty stage and dance floor. I noticed a label that said _VIP Only _.

Something was going very right, apparently. I started thinking that perhaps the Powers were feeling bad for me.

I was shown to a small seating area by the balcony. The table was small, for two-maybe three- people. Instead of dining or pub chairs, all the tables had cushiony, swanky velvet seats.

"Feel free to browse our menu. A waitress will be with you shortly." The hostess said, handing me the menu.

Now that I was alone, my thoughts were most definitely swirling. The 'something's finally going right' feeling was fading quickly. My brain was starting to overload on possibilities.

The biggest and most prominent fear I had was that Salvatore had managed to follow me here and pay off the staff, in attempt scare me into submission. It wouldn't of been the first time he'd done that to someone.

I was so busy feeding into my paranoia that I nearly jumped out of my skin when someone spoke next to me.

"Looking for someone?"

I tore my eyes away from the floor and saw a man standing next to me. He was handsome but he didn't seem my type. He looked like the kind of guy that just expected women to fall at his feet whenever he walked into a room. The air around him swirled with unearned arrogance.

"No, not really." I lied.

"What's a beautiful girl like yourself doing here alone?"

I laughed out loud at the cheesy pick up line. He looked confused, as if I should have just melted into his hands.

"Mind if I sit?" he asked, trying again.

Before I could tell him exactly how much I minded, a very familiar sensation washed over me. The tingly charges started at my feet and rose straight up my body, like tiny electric shocks.

"Thanks for saving my seat, baby. Sorry I'm late."

Gideon slid into the seat and wrapped his hand around mine, only making the little electric shocks grow.

The guy looked between us, acting like he wanted to say something. In the end though, he just walked away.

"This is twice in one day now, Gideon." I said, after a few minutes.

"So it is."

His tone of voice was off. It seemed short and clipped.

"Thanks for that." I said, motioning to the space the guy had been previously occupying.

I was extremely grateful for him showing up. He probably saved me from breaking that guy's hand or something.

"I thought you had important plans this evening."

A waitress came and set two pink drinks in front of us.

"The vodka and cranberries you ordered, Mr. Cross." she said, cheerfully.

"Thank you. That will be all." he replied, dismissing her.

"How did you know what I wanted?" I asked, taking a sip.

"Lucky guess." he smirked, taking a sip of his. "This is quite delicious, I must say."

I swallowed, not at all remotely satisfied by his answer. I wasn't going to push it, though. Not at the moment anyway.

"I did have important plans lined up for this evening but they didn't really pan out as well as I had hoped. Something..._extremely _unexpected came up and derailed me completely off focus."

"Rupert?" he asked, a little more alarmed.

"Oh! No. No. Giles is fine. Well, not fine but-you know-the unexpected wasn't anything to do with him. I ran into an ex that I never really planned on seeing again."

He mulled that over for a few minutes before coming out with a simple "I'm sorry to hear that."

I shrugged. "Eh, don't be. I'm used to things going awry."

"You should expect better."

His tone had reverted back to short and tense. He was acting kind of weird.

Okay, I admit that prior to this, I'd only met him twice and probably didn't really know him well enough to know if his current behaviour was weird or not. Maybe he was like this all the time? Then again, the two times we'd met before, he'd been nice, lighthearted and pretty flirty.

I decided to solve this rising, self built dilemma by taking a few more swigs of my drink.

When he realized that I wasn't going to answer, he moved closer to me. A piece of my brain remembered his hand in mine. I looked down and it was still there.

He was mere inches from me. The sizzling energy was nearly explosive. I wasn't sure if it was because he was actually touching me or if it was due to the alcohol rising in my system. Was he feeling it too or was it just me?

Either way, it felt like my body was about to explode into fireworks.

"Tell me something, Buffy. Honestly."

My heart started thumping about a million beats per minute.

In my experience, when someone wants to know something 'honestly', it's usually never good.

I could only imagine what he wanted to know. My increasingly alcohol fuelled brain was expecting him to say something about me being the Slayer or what ISC really does.

I nodded my head. "Sure." I took another drink.

"Are you single?"

I started coughing, the drink going down the wrong way. He stared at me, concerned, and started tapping on my back, trying to help me.

"Are you alright?" he asked after I had managed to stop coughing. He still sounded concerned.

"Yeah, just swallowed wrong."

He stared at me, intently. Waiting for me to answer.

"Yes, I'm single. Why?"

It was the very last question I had been expecting from him.

My heart leapt up into my throat and then belly flopped-no, cannonballed- back down.

"You live with two other people. Just curious to know if you're romantically attached to either one of them."

I laughed, out loud, for the second time. He cocked his eyebrow at me.

"I'm not sure I understand what's so funny..."

The tenseness had left and the lightness had returned to his voice.

"It's just-I-I...that's not at all what I had been expecting you to ask. And the thought of being romantically attached to either Xander or Willow is hysterical to me. They're my best friends, not my lovers. Not to mention, Xander has a fiancée back in London. My little sister, to be exact. And yes, Willow likes girls but I don't. Although I support her and her lifestyle choices immensely, it's not for me."

Except for a minor phase right after Sunnydale. But he didn't need to know about that.

For some silly little reason, he seemed to be relieved.

"And how did you know who I live with?"

"Miss Rosenberg mentioned that you were staying with her when we talked yesterday."

"Makes sense. Stupid question, but why do you ask? About my availability."

"I wanted to know who-if anyone-was in my way."

My breathing accelerated, rapidly. Was this really happening?

"Specifically, I'd like to know who he is." He said, nodding down to the floor below. "He hasn't taken his eyes off of you from the moment he walked in."

My heart started beating in triplicate- and not the good kind that I had just felt moments before. My previous theory about Salvatore following me sprung to mind.

I turned to glance at the person in question, silently praying to the Powers for it to not be Sal.

Prayers answered, kind of.

It was Angel and he didn't look too happy.

I pressed my lips in a hard line. Naturally he'd show up here.

I turned back to Gideon. "If you'll excuse me for just a minute...I'll be right back." I said, standing.

He put his hand out to stop me. "Buffy-?"

"Just take a minute or two. I'll explain when I come back. Promise."

What I was explaining and how I was going to explain it, I had no clue.

I walked down the stairs and made my way over to him.

"I swear to the Powers That Be...if you followed me here, I'm going to kick your ass all over this city."

He pulled Willow's list out and waved it at me.

"This was on Willow's list. There was a hawker outside giving away free entry. I took it."

"Oh. Okay. Sorry. And Spike?"

"We split the list up. To make it easier. I thought you wanted to be alone?"

"I do, um, I did."

"Did you forget what 'alone' means? Who is that?"

"Gideon Cross. He's just recently purchased the ISC building."

"And you're out having drinks with him when you told us that you wanted to be alone?"

"I didn't know that he was going to be here! I got the same free entry card you did. We ran into each other. So sue me for sitting down with him."

Eh, it was mostly true.

"Wait- why am I even explaining any of this to you? Maybe I changed my mind? If I decide to, oh, I don't know, enjoy myself for a solid five minutes after a particularly stressful week, I don't think it is any of your concern."

"I don't like him."

I laughed. "Oh, there's a big shock! You don't like a man that I might be interested in. Even better is that you decide this without ever meeting him!"

"You're...interested in him? Romantically?"

"Maybe. I'll never know though if I don't get to know him. You have to let me go, Angel. We have been over for a long, long time."

"You said-"

"I said maybe. This isn't the time or the place for that conversation, Angel." I said, exasperated.

"You said that sometimes, you thought about it."

"I always think about you except this time, the context has changed. Instead of thinking of the future, I think how much I can't stand to be near you. Or Spike. I don't get why you didn't tell me immediately that he had come back."

"You can forgive all your so called friends for the way they treated you...but you can't forgive either one of us? There were things we were dealing with at the time. Things that took precedence over letting you know that your ex-lover was back from grave. You may be a champion of the Powers, but right now you're nothing more than a spoiled brat." Angel said, glaring at me.

His voice had gone back to being pure ice. He didn't wait for me to respond, either. Just turned and stalked out of the bar.

I took a few deep breaths to stop the tears before walking back up the stairs and reclaiming my seat.

"That seemed...interesting." Gideon said, wearily.

There was a fresh drink sitting next to my still half full drink from before. I slammed them both down, one after another. The vodka warmed my stomach and made me cringe at the same time. I could feel my head getting fuzzy.

"Who is he?" Gideon prodded. He signalled the waitress to bring over another drink.

"Ex-boyfriend. We occasionally get stuck working together. He gets a little possessive sometimes, even though we haven't dated in over ten years."

"I can see why he would."

I blushed. Not sure if it was from Gideon's words or the alcohol.

"I'm assuming he's not the one you mentioned running into unexpectedly, earlier."

"That's correct." I said, accepting my new drink from the waitress.

"He works at ISC?"

"Uh...no. Not really. He has his own thing going on. Just...sometimes, when I was in London, we would need help with certain things and he would oblige. He worked with Dawn more than me."

I was too busy brooding over feeling betrayed to say more than two words to him. His words tonight had hit a rather sore spot in me. They had rang in pretty true.

"Dawn?"

"My sister."

"How many exes do you have?"

"Checking out the competition?" I smirked.

"I told you...seeing who, if anybody, is in my way."

I took a large drink of my beverage. It was starting to taste more like cranberries and less like vodka.

"Angel, that was who that was. Spike...not his real name, I promise. He works with Angel, now. They are fri-they have known each other a long time. Riley...he's...in the military. Also happily married. A few high school boyfriends here and there, but I think a lot of them are de-gone."

He had a funny look on his face. I couldn't quite place it...almost seemed like some sort of amusement.

"That's it?" He sounded surprised.

"Nope. Not even close. Buffy the heartbreaker, that's what they call me."

He laughed. "I bet."

"Kidding."

"Which one was the unexpected run-in?"

I finished the last of my drink, not wanting to answer that. I waved off the waitress when she tried to bring me another.

"You're not going to say." he stated.

"It wasn't any of the ones I listed. Anyway, is there any chance you'll tell me what you're supposed to tell me Monday?" I realized that the sentence didn't make much sense but all the pieces were there. He'd get it.

"Not a chance." he said, taking my subject change bait. "If I tell you now, that gives you a reason to back out of having dinner with me."

"Then again, maybe not." I countered.

Tipsy Buffy was getting brave.

He moved in close, like he had been before.

"You're sure you're not attached?" His voice had changed yet again. This time it just oozed seduction.

I swallowed the lump in my throat.

"110% sure."

His face was only inches from mine. I was almost positive he was going to kiss me.

"I want you in my bed."

My mind was increasingly fuzzy from the alcohol and Gideon's proximity. I wasn't sure that I'd heard him right until he said it again.

"I want you lying naked underneath me. I want you staring up at me under those pretty eyelashes of yours. I want to watch you lose control."

I couldn't believe my ears. Tipsy Buffy was shouting **GO! **Run home with him right now.

Unfortunately, sensible Buffy decided it was the _perfect _time to wake up and rear her ugly little head.

The truth of the matter was that, no matter how attracted to him I was, I'd only known him for three days. I barely knew a thing about him. I couldn't go jumping into his bed, no matter what Xander and Willow had advised. There was a very large piece of me that feared that what had happened, so long ago now, with Parker, would happen again.

I mean, what would be the point of having to go through all that pain without learning a lesson?

I made myself process this. What would I have said had anyone else said that to me? I would've slapped them into next year! I should be appalled by what he said.

I pulled myself out of his arms and stood up, rather shakily, thanks to my poor decision in the drink department.

"If you'll excuse me, Mr. Cross. It's getting late. I should be going. Thank you for the drinks."

"Buffy, wait. I-"

"I'll speak with you on Monday."

I half expected him to follow me out but he didn't. I walked out and stood on the curb, waiting for an approaching taxi when a sleek looking black SUV pulled up, blocking my sight.

I moved out of it's way and decided to just walk home. Maybe I would find something that I could slay! Yes. That's definitely what I needed.

I turned down the first alley way I found and got to work.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

The next day, I woke with a throbbing head. I managed to stumble my way out into the kitchen, where Xander was sitting at the island, eating breakfast.

"Morning, Buff. Want me to fry you up some eggs to go with that hangover?"

My stomach turned. The thought of food repulsed me.

"Thanks for the offer, Xander, but I think I'm going to forgo breakfast today. Where's Will?"

"ISC. She had some consulting to do with Glasgow."

I turned and noticed a small basket sitting at the end of the counter.

"What's this?" I asked, sitting down and sliding the basket over.

"It was delivered for you this morning."

Nestled inside was a small bottle marked _'Hangover Cure'_ and a bottle of ibuprofen, with a lettered note card attached.

centerI _"I sincerely hope that you are not in need of this, Miss Summers. I look forward to dinner tomorrow evening." _

_-G _/I /center

I cracked open the ibuprofen and chased them down with the 'hangover cure'. I have no idea what it was made out of, but I nearly spit it back out.

Xander just sat in his seat, patiently awaiting an explanation.

"I left our information with the two witch-y places that Willow suggested. Unfortunately, we had no luck anywhere else."

"You clearly had some sort of luck last night." Xander said, wagging his eyes.

"I say this with the utmost love and respect for you—shut up, Xander." 

"I'm just saying—not everyone would make such a grand gesture after as few meetings as you've had."

"The only reason he probably even sent this is because he was a total sleazebag last night."

Xander shifted uncomfortably and I could tell that he was mentally preparing himself to beat Gideon up, if necessary.

"When you say 'sleazebag'…"

"He directly asked me to sleep with him. No schmoozing, nothing. Just BAM- I _'I want you in my bed.'_ /I

I didn't particularly like the look of relief that Xander made quite visible.

"Okay, and?"

"You don't see anything wrong with that? Anything at all?"

"We discussed this yesterday, Buff, and I believe that Willow and I specifically told you our opinions on this."

My annoyance started to bubble. Pffft, men. They always stuck together. Willow would've at least pretended to be on my side.

"My point is that I've only known him for what? Four days? If that?"

Xander turned my words about for a minute.

"Nope. Not getting it. He's hot, you're hot—and might I add, crazy stressed—so why not have a night of fun to relieve some of that? Who knows… you might actually gain some focus after getting it out of your system."

I wasn't entirely sure that Gideon Cross was the type that could be gotten out of one's system. I felt that he was probably more of a I_when can we do it again_/I type of guy. However, I wasn't going to tell Xander that. It was clear that I was getting nowhere so I decided to change the subject before a shouting match broke out.

"You'll never guess who I ran into last night."

"Salvatore."

"Okay, maybe you will. How did you know?"

"Angel stopped by just before you got back last night."

His voice held nothing but pure hatred. Xander had never liked Sal to start with so when his version of 'more' got out, well, I'm sure you can picture how well that went over with Xander…

"He said he's in town for some charity function this coming weekend. On behalf of the clothing line."

"The one at the Waldorf?"

"Um, didn't really focus on getting the deets, Xander."

"You should probably figure it out. We have to be there too."

"What? Why?!"

"Giles was lined up to go…Willow said that we I _have_ /I to take his place. We need to keep ISC's public face up."

"Is now really the appropriate time for us to be attending parties with rich people? There are crazy magic people on the loose! One of them being Ethan Rayne. Remember him? The guy that turned us into Halloween costumes and Giles into a demon?"

"Yeah, that's more or less what I said but Will's pretty adamant on us going. You know how she gets…"

I sulked in my chair. He was right. Willow's mind was impossible to change when she had her bossy pants on.

"Don't sweat it, Buff. We'll get a few more of Will's witch friends to monitor the area. You can get one of the other Council buildings to send some extra Slayers down for extra patrol. Angel and Spike will be around, too. Not to mention, I put a call into Riley yesterday."

The mention of Angel made my heart hurt. I felt terrible about how I had acted the night before. He was right. It wasn't fair that I'd almost instantly forgiven my friends for what they'd done but I'd held the grudge against Angel and Spike for years.

I was just going to have to apologize to the both of them. No dancing around it-just a simple, heartfelt apology. They deserved at least that much, if not more.

"That's great about Riley. When's he coming in?"

Xander hemmed and hawed for a minute.

"They didn't let you through, did they?"

"Not as much, no."

Riley was a hard guy to get a hold of these days. He'd been promoted to some big position within the Initiative so now you had to have all sorts of special clearance to even get his voicemail.

"That's okay-I'll call tomorrow. We should get going, anyway. There's a whole brood of angst-y teenage girls and newly stuffed Watchers awaiting our arrival."

The rest of the afternoon flew by in a hangover free rush. Xander and I spent a good portion of the day and evening training the new girls while Willow ran some scenarios with the new Watchers.

We finished off the night pretty early with takeaway and a cheesy horror movie, a tradition that we had started up again when I'd come back to London from Italy. It was something that I absolutely adored. It brought me back to the old days when we would do the same exact thing in my bedroom in Sunnydale. Xander and I had been sad when Willow had left London last year to come work with Giles in NYC but we were definitely making up lost time now.

It completely warmed my heart to know that even after everything we'd been through, all the good, the bad, and the downright horrible things, at the end of it all, we'd still have each other. Always. The same went for Dawn, Giles, Faith, Riley and Sam….Angel and Spike. People that would always be there for me and vice versa. I felt stupid that it had taken me so long to realize it but I guess there's something to be said about growing up, huh?  
_

The next morning, I was all awkward nerves about my dinner date with Gideon. I hadn't a clue what any of the plans were.

Willow suggested, as always, that I just call and ask but I was finding it hard to do because of said awkward nerves.

His little care basket yesterday only made things stranger between us. The note was straight forward and almost professional sounding but the gesture itself was entirely charming.

Basically, I had absolutely no idea what to expect from him tonight.

By eleven, I was starting to get the nerve up. I was being totally ridiculous. I've saved the world how many times? A simple phone call shouldn't be so difficult, no matter who it's to.

I was mid-reach for the handle when it rang and scared the living daylights out of me. Definitely not one of my proudest moments.

"Elizabeth Summers" I said, my voice a little shaky.

"Would seven o'clock be good for you?"

Well, problem solved I guess.

"I have a video conference with our Seattle office at five-forty-five but I can cut it a bit short. Seven should be fine."

"I'll send a car for you."

I started to say that wasn't necessary but he hung up before I could.

His mood had seemed short and his tone of voice was…not entirely pleasant. It slightly alarmed me but I put it on the back burner. For all I knew, it had nothing to do with me.

Oh, who am I kidding? I had been a total ass to him two nights prior. Of course it had been to do with me. Oh well. I guessed that he wasn't too used to getting turned down and it more than likely had left him feeling a little insecure.

I managed to push all things Gideon Cross related to the back of my mind and worked steadily over the next hour and a half. I got the phone call to Riley out of the way first, leaving him an awkward I_we need your help again_/I voicemail. I emailed one of the Council's offices upstate and asked to borrow a handful of Slayers for an extended time.

I figured that they would not only be beneficial for Saturday night and all things Ethan Rayne related, but it also would make me feel better having a steadier line up while Sal was lurking around. His little I _'I'm only here for a charity function'_ /I excuse wasn't really sitting well with me. I could've just been feeling a little paranoid but my instincts were almost never wrong.

I even managed to get a phone call to Faith in. She reported that Giles was getting better by the minute. The Coven still had him in the 'forced sleep' coma thing but he was doing well. They had been able to remove over a dozen of the infectious curses that they hadn't been able to get at before.

There was still no movement from the captured witch, though. She'd woken up sometime Friday night and Ember had been going at her non-stop all weekend, to no avail.

I had faith in her though, no pun intended. Ember was pretty powerful and I _very_ /I strong willed. Dawn always said that if you mixed Willow, Faith and myself together, you'd get Ember. She'd get her to talk, eventually. I knew it.

I also tried to get a hold of Dawn, but it had gone straight to voicemail, several times. I forced the nagging worry out of my head. After all, it was only Monday. She didn't usually start causing trouble until Tuesday.

It was a little after twelve-thirty when I decided to take my lunch. I was about to email Willow and see if she wanted to come with me to the deli down the street when my email pinged. Coincidentally enough, it was from her.

That really had to stop happening today.

I _I so knew it was like that, you liar!_ /I

She had pasted a link underneath. I clicked on it and it brought me to an article on a gossip blog called I _The New York Bite_ /I

My mouth dropped open in dramatic fashion.

B **New Flame for Billionaire Bachelor Gideon Cross? **/b

I _New York's resident playboy was seen cuddling close to Elizabeth Summers, the newly appointed CEO of ISC, a global trader of rare and valuable antiquities, on Saturday night at one of his lounge style nightclubs. _

_One eyewitness said that the couple's evening wasn't all smooth sailing though. Part way through their date, Miss Summers was seen (and heard) arguing with another man before he stormed out of the popular hotspot. Sometime later, Miss Summers was also seen leaving in a rush—without Mr. Cross. Is this steamy new relationship over before it's even started?_

Our journalists will be there every step of the way with the latest scoop. /I

The article was followed by tons-and I do mean I _tons _/I-of photos. A dozen or two of Gideon and I, holding hands and practically in each other's faces at the table, a few of Angel and I arguing, another dozen of when I'd told Gideon off, three of me walking out the door without Gideon and five of him leaving and scowling.

Shit.

I was in trouble. Lots and lots of trouble.

Rule one in the Slayer handbook? i_SECRET IDENTITY._ /i

I mean, I know I'd never really been that good with the whole process of it before but it had never, ever been anything on this level.

My mind wandered to when Gideon had called earlier and I wondered if he had seen this. Perhaps the article had been the reasoning for his short disposition over the phone?

I clicked off my email and brought up the internet. I went to Google and typed in Gideon's name, just like Willow had done. All of the solo photos of him that had been there just two days before were now replaced with the photos of Gideon and I from the article. The same set of photos, repeated hundreds of times down the page.

I copied the link at the top of the page and brought my email back up. I pasted it in a reply message to Willow.

I _"…And I thought that tonight couldn't possibly get any more awkward. So much for secret identities." _/I

I clicked send and her reply was nearly instant.

I _"Angel is going to kill you. And then Giles is going to bring you back and kill you again. And then Dawn is going to dig you up, force me to bring you back and kill you one more time for not saying anything to her." _/I

I rolled my eyes and replied I _"Thanks. Knew I could count on you. 3 " _/I

Truth was, I didn't even want to think of how livid Angel was going to be. Yet another thing I was going to have to apologize for.

Giles would probably be the easiest to handle, seeing as how he was currently unconscious and a continent away. He'd never have to know, right?

Willow was fifty shades of right about Dawn, though. I would have to diffuse that bomb before it even began to tick.

I grabbed my phone and hit her speed dial. It went straight to voicemail, yet again.

Perfect.

I left an uncomfortable I _"I-have-something-to-tell-you-it's-not-what-it-looks-like-so-don't-get-mad-if-you've-already-seen-it"_ /I message and hung up.

Needless to say, my appetite was completely gone now.

Coming to New York, I hadn't of expected a lot of things to come about, especially during my first full seven days here. Gideon, Salvatore and most definitely not the god damn paparazzi. I'd always thought of them as an LA annoyance. I'd seen them stalking the streets, malls and restaurants plenty of times when I'd lived there.

What if this story caught fire? They somehow already knew my name. They knew where I worked. What if they decided to follow me one night and there was a vampire? Or a demon? Or Ethan and one of his psycho friends?

We had a million and one cover ups of course…but I didn't want to resort to them if I didn't have to.

I had absolutely no idea what to do. I needed counseling. I needed advice. As much as I didn't want him to know, I needed Giles.

I spent the rest of my work day in a fog. Willow and Xander tried their hardest to help think of a way we could eliminate the paparazzi from my life but we kept coming up empty handed. Moving away wasn't an option. Disguises would be a little too ridiculous a move not to mention time consuming. We were at our wit's end unless we went to Dark Willow and nobody wanted that.

In the end, I concluded that after tonight, I just wasn't going to be able to see Gideon again. A tiny-okay, a huge-piece of me hurt to think that but I knew it was the right choice. It was the only way to protect the both of us, should the little bloodsuckers find something out about ISC's real operation.

I was way out in left field during the video meeting with Seattle and entirely forgot that I had said I would cut it short. I ran out of ISC around six-forty-five and sure enough, there was a sleek, black SUV waiting for me. The same one I had seen outside of the club Saturday.

The driver got out and opened my door for me.

"Miss Summers? I'm Angus. Mr. Cross sent me to pick you up." he smiled.

I paused. I really wanted to tell him that it wasn't necessary. I could just hail a cab or walk. In the end though, I thought about the paparazzi following me on foot and just slid in the back.

Gideon wasn't in the car. I figured that he was already waiting for me at whatever restaurant he had picked.

"Mr. Cross took the liberty of getting you an outfit to wear this evening. The establishment he picked is very…picky…about how their guests dress."

I had spent a good two hours trying to decide what to wear this morning. Damn it. I should've realized that the place would be ultra swanky.

There was a garment bag hanging on the other side of the car along with a box of shoes and another smaller box on top.

"We're running a bit late, Miss Summers so I'm afraid you'll have to change on the way."

I could see Angus's reflection in the rear view mirror and he looked just as uncomfortable with the idea as I felt about it.

"Um, okay." I said, quietly.

"No worries, Miss Summers. I was raised a gentleman. Not to mention, maneuvering throughout New York City traffic deserves every ounce of my concentration."

That made me feel slightly better but it was no less awkward.

He pulled out into traffic with ease while I unzipped the garment bag. Hanging on the hanger was a beautiful dark teal lace cocktail dress. It had a solid black slip underneath it with see through, three quarter length sleeves.

Beautiful didn't even begin to describe it.

The shoes were just plain black pumps, similar to a pair that I already owned. The other box contained a small, sparkly black clutch.

I made sure that Angus's eyes were focused on the traffic before undressing. I pulled the dress off the hanger and slid it on. It seemed to be a perfect fit but there was something in the back making me itch.

I fiddled around, grabbing onto the tag and ripping it off.

I _Brugetti of Italy _/I

I sighed and laughed out loud.

Of course it was one of Sal's dresses! Why wouldn't it be?

"May I inquire as to what's so amusing, Miss Summers?"

"This dress…"

"Is there something wrong with it? Does it not fit properly?"

"No, fits great actually. It's just…it's a Brugetti."

"I'm afraid my knowledge of women's fashion is highly limited, Miss Summers." he said, with humor in his voice.

I almost told him that I used to be in a semi-serious relationship with the proprietor and that's why I was laughing, but I stopped myself. He probably didn't care.

"It's just one of my favorite lines, that's all. Just makes me wonder how Gideon knows all this random stuff about me."

"He's a very knowledgeable man."

"That he is, Angus. That he is."

I flipped the tag over in my hands and happened to glance down at the price.

"TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS?"

"Mr. Cross is also a very generous man. When he finds something—or someone—he deems worthy, money is no object to him."

I breathed in deeply, trying to stop the hyperventilation before it even began. He spent two thousand dollars on a dress for me to wear to a dinner meeting. Two thousand dollars. Plus shoes. And a clutch.

Talk about your mixed signals. Jeez.

Just then, a nasty thought occurred to me. Maybe he had purchased the dress for an ex and was just looking for an excuse to get rid of it…

"Angus, do you know where Gideon got this stuff from?"

"I picked it up from the Brugetti boutique in Atlantic City this afternoon."

He'd had them picked out this afternoon, in another state no less. So then, maybe his short temper had been nothing to do with me after all. The gossip article or something work related perhaps.

Angus pulled the car to a stop and got out. I grabbed my phone and wallet out of my work bag, stuffed them into the clutch, slid the shoes on and ruffled my hair a bit, praying to the goddess of all things fashionable that I looked half way decent. Angus opened my door and offered me his hand, helping me step out.

"Mr. Cross is already seated inside, waiting for you. Have a wonderful evening, Miss Summers."

"Thanks, Angus." I said, smiling back at him. I liked him.

I looked up and realized that I was standing outside of Gideon's hotel-the very same one that I had been trying to pry said information out of two days ago.

I took several deep breaths and kept reminding myself that I was a champion of the Powers. If I could defeat evil on a daily basis, I could handle having a meal with Gideon god damn Cross. Especially when he had some sort of information dangling over my head.

I walked in, more confident than I'd felt in days. I noticed that the woman I had talked to on Saturday afternoon was behind the counter. She looked up and recognized me instantly.

"Unless you're carrying a warrant inside your slip, we are not releasing our guests information." she said, glaring at me.

"As it happens, I'm off duty and meeting someone in the restaurant. So if you could kindly stop staring ice daggers into my soul and point me in the right direction, I'd be forever grateful."

She was silent for several extremely long minutes before finally pointing me in the direction of the nineteenth floor. I nodded my thanks and stepped into the elevator. It seemed far too quick a ride but I just chucked it up to my nerves.

The elevator let off in a large foyer. It almost reminded me of a waiting room in a doctor's office but swankier. It was filled with large, plush couches, similar to the ones from the lounge club. It was packed with people waiting to get in, something I found strange for a Monday night.

I made my way up to the host.

"Hi, I think I'm a little late but I'm supp-"

"All reservations are given away after the third call of the party's name. Try again another night."

I raised an eyebrow at him. He looked older, maybe early forties. His skin was the fake kind of tan, his head was balding and his voice was about three decibels higher than it should've been.

"I was meet-"

"I said try again another night, lady. Not my fault you couldn't primp yourself in time." he said. "I_If_/I you can call whatever it is you've got going on 'primped'" he added, waving his hand at my appearance.

I opened my mouth, about to give this jerk an earful but quickly shut it when I saw Gideon approaching through the large, glass double doors that led into the restaurant. Mr. Angry Host Man saw him too.

"Mr. Cross! Is there anything I can do for you? I'm afraid your other party hasn't arrived yet, sir."

Gideon glared at him and the whole waiting area had quieted down to watch the scene unfold.

"Brian, do you see this exquisite young woman standing in front of you?" he said, gesturing towards me.

Brian the angry host nodded. "I was just explaining our policy on late-"

"She's the other party I was waiting for. She's my date for the evening."

Date.

He'd called me his date.

Various emotions fluttered through me, ranging from excitement to nervous to hell yes to hell no and then back to excited. Sitting just under the surface of all of those, was the sparking desire I'd felt Saturday night, this time without the added help of liquor.

I managed to easily filter out most of what Gideon had said to Brian as I was far too busy ogling how perfect he looked. He wore a black, three piece suit with a button up shirt that matched the dark teal of my dress and a thin, black tie. His inky black hair was just slightly touching the collar of his shirt and brushed perfectly straight. His face was covered in about three days worth of stubble and it was just gorgeous.

I could already tell that this dinner was going to be a complete disaster. How in the hell was I supposed to tell him that I couldn't see him anymore when he looked so good and was going around calling me his date? I mean, I didn't even have an excuse as to why I couldn't see him anymore. Anything that partially resembled a decent cover up had flown out of my head the moment I'd seen him.

It wasn't like I could just say I _"I'm actually a Vampire Slayer, a job that is really grounded in secret identities. So you see, I really can't risk the paparazzi thing. Specifically now as my team is tracking a dark magician and his troupe of idiotic followers because they cursed Giles nearly to his death._"/I

I was stirred out of my reverie by Gideon wrapping his arm lightly around my waist as he escorted me to our table. I tried my hardest to ignore the electric sparks as they proceeded to get off-the-chart intense.

He pulled out my chair and I sat down. There was a waiter standing next to us in less than a minute, setting two glasses of white wine down, along with two menus.

We sat in awkward silence, perusing the menu. Maybe it was only awkward for me. I felt some more of my confidence start to slip.

"Order whatever you'd like, Buffy"

Some more of my confidence slid away at the velvety sound of his voice.

Damn it. I had been fine until he had said the D word to Brian. I needed to regroup.

I _Slayer. Kill evil things. Save the world. Wash, rinse and repeat. Even if this b__**is/b**__ a date with one of the most gorgeous, richest, powerful men in the world, I can deal with it. I'm way more powerful. Slayer. Kill evil things. Save the world. Champion._/I

I repeated it over and over in my head for another several minutes until some confidence came creeping back.

"I'm sorry I was late."

"You could've called. I thought I was getting stood up."

His tone was light but I sensed that he had actually been worried that I wasn't going to show up.

"I was distracted during my meeting with our Seattle office and forgot to end the meeting early and then I got held up downstairs."

"What do you mean?" he asked, setting his menu down.

"Lady at the front desk thought I was here to harass her more about your guests."

He smiled, but it was forced. "It seems that my staff are lacking in their manners. I'll have to speak to them."

"At least you know their names. I couldn't tell you more than three people that work for me."

He shifted uncomfortably in his seat and I knew we were about to start.

"Buffy, about the other night—"

"Gideon-"

"No, hear me out. Please."

I paused for a moment then set my menu down on the table, gesturing for him to go on.

"Thank you. I came on too strong. You seemed so….assertive…that I figured that was the type of thing you went for but you were very clearly offended. You have my humblest apologies."

I have to admit that it was not at all what I had been expecting.

The waiter came back before I could reply. I ordered a random pasta dish-the first one I saw, to be exact-while Gideon ordered a steak.

"Why am I here, Gideon?" I asked after close to an eternity of awkward silence.

He hesitated, knowing exactly what I was asking.

"Virginia Rivers. She was the woman you were inquiring about, yes? Willow's friend?"

"Yeah, that's her."

"She was a guest here until she abruptly checked out last Saturday—four full days before she was scheduled to. Can…can I ask what this is about?" His voice was laced with curiosity and intrigue.

"Sorry, classified information." I smiled.

He acted like he was about to retort but the waiter brought our food and two fresh glasses of wine.

We ate and drank in silence for a few moments before Gideon spoke again.

"I can forward you her details tomorrow, if you'd like. We have her credit card number and drivers license on file."

"Wait, really?"

"Is this your first time in the field, Agent?" he smirked, taking a bite of steak.

"Not remotely. I've had many, many field assignments. However, when someone disappears from plain sight…that's tough work."

He took that in and then changed the subject.

"Do you like the dress?"

"Yes. Thank you. You didn't have to do that, you know. I have a closet full of fancy dresses."

It was true, I did. They were just back in London.

"Or I could've gone out and bought my own."

"Nonsense. Brugetti is one of the finest in fashion. I get all of my suits from them. Besides, when would you've had the time to shop, with two very demanding jobs." he smirked at me again.

I'd known from the first meeting we'd had that he was a Brugetti man. Sal's fashions were pretty easy for me to tell a part from others. I'd spent months staring at similar ones in Italy.

"They do have gorgeous things." I said.

At one point, my entire closet had been full of Sal's creations. Until one fateful night when Faith persuaded me that burning them would help me get over Sal.

"And I'm a female. I've I _always _/I got time for shopping." I added on.

"Salvatore is a business associate of mine." Gideon said casually, as he took another bite of his steak.

I dropped my fork and it clattered, loudly, into my dish. "What?"

He raised an eyebrow at me. "Is that an issue, Miss Summers?"

I swallowed and decided I _screw it_/I. "Sal and I have…history."

This seemed to interest him. "History…?"

I sighed, leaned back in my chair and threw my hands in my lap. "Romantic history."

Gideon didn't respond right away. He lifted his wine glass, took a long drink and then swallowed.

"Then I guess you're aware that he's in town for the benefit gala at the Waldorf this weekend." His tone had reverted to icy. Robin Hood had possibly discovered a worthy opponent.

"Remember that ex I never planned on seeing again?"

"Salvatore." he said, his face lighting up with understanding.

"Salvatore Brugetti—fashion heir, mogul, all around genius and…the biggest asshat in all of Italy. I might even go as far as saying all of Europe but then again—I'm biased."

"So I'm guessing that you're not going to the benefit with him?" he grinned.

"Know what I'm doing right now? Mentally stabbing him with my fork."

"I'm going to take that as a 'no'." he laughed. "I have to say that I do not envy him at all right now."

"Don't get on my bad side then." I smirked, sitting up.

"Wouldn't dream of it."

I had to question myself on why in the hell I was flirting with him. Didn't that qualify as leading him on?

"Buffy, since we're both going to be attending the benefit on Saturday, why don't we go together?"

Yep. Apparently so. A large part of me really, I _really_/I wanted to say yes, but Common Sense Buffy was right there, at the front, saying I _no, no, no! _/I

"Gideon…I would love to but I can't. I just can't." I said, quietly as I stared down into my dish.

"Oh, are you going with someone else?"

I could hear the jealousy in his voice. "No, well, I mean, Xander and Willow and I were all going together, but it's not that."

"Then what? Because I don't get it. You flirt, then you get defensive and then you flirt some more."

"Saturday night…"

"I've already apologized for my behavior and I meant it. I won't say it again." he said, his voice full of command. It was pretty hot.

"No, not that. Something else."

He gestured for me to go on.

"There was an article on some blog today—"

"I'm sorry, Buffy." he said, interrupting me. "I was really hoping that you hadn't seen it." he admitted.

"Gideon, my face is plastered all over Google. How could I not see it?"

He swirled his wine around. "Touché."

"I can't have my picture posted all over the internet…" Why? Think Buffy, think! "…while I'm working…this…..case. There's far too much at stake." Like Giles.

He reached up and ran his hands through his hair and then folded them in his lap.

"I guess I can understand that, to a point. But you do know that, in your current position at ISC, you're already globally known? The news of you taking Rupert's place was fairly widespread."

Damn it, I hadn't thought of that at all. That would've been how the stupid blog knew everything about me.

"Right. I hadn't thought of that."

"Better quit that second job, Miss Summers."

"Can't."

"Why not?"

"I would love to explain it to you but—"

"Let me guess, classified information?"

"You got it."

We were silent for another few minutes. The waiter took that time to appear and sweep our plates away. I realized then that I'd barely eaten my pasta. I'd been too wrapped up in the Buffy-Gideon bubble to remember a basic need. To make it even more awkward, Gideon noticed.

"Not hungry?"

"No, not really." I fibbed. Truth was, I was absolutely ravenous. I hadn't eaten anything since dinner last night. I was praying that my stomach wouldn't turn me in.

"Will there be anything else, Mr. Cross?" the waiter asked.

"No, thank you." he answered, his eyes still on me. The waiter disappeared with a flourish.

Gideon stood up and pulled my chair out for me. Our night was apparently over.

I stood and followed him across the restaurant, back through the glass double doors, to the elevator. Every one in the waiting room was staring at us as we waited for it. Whether it was because of the little scene between Gideon and Brian beforehand or because they'd read the article, I was unsure. But I had a pretty good hunch that it was because of the article.

Gideon did something completely unexpected then. He slipped his hand in mine. My eyes widened and I turned to send a puzzled look his way. He winked at me and used our linked hands to pull me closer to him. He unlinked our hands and wrapped his arm tightly around my waist, lightly trailing his fingers on my hip bone. I was practically molded to his side. My breath hitched and my skin heated. Pure desire pooled deep in my stomach…and other places. If I had thought that it was intense before…right now it was booming off the charts.

His smell was nothing short of intoxicating. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I realized that he was doing it to put on a show for our small audience but if I had to stand like this for any length of time, plus my lack of food, I thought I might pass out.

Fortunately, the elevator dinged and we stepped in. I unmolded myself from his side as soon as the doors shut and stood as far away from him as I possibly could. The sparks were most definitely flying. Soaring, even. I was trying to make myself think of all the reasons why I couldn't let this happen. Of all the things that could go wrong if I gave in. It wasn't fair in the slightest that he could affect me so while he seemingly remained unaffected by me.

My phone rang, loud and shrill, and for the second time that day, I jumped at the sound. I pulled it out of the small clutch, answering without looking at the screen.

"You know, twenty-seven missed calls and fifteen voicemails is a bit much, even for you."

"Should've answered." I replied, simply.

"Yeah, yeah. I was busy. Speaking of, I need a ride."

"As much as I would love to help you out with that, Dawn, we're kind of, you know, three thousand miles and one ocean apart."

"Nope. I flew in to surprise Xander for our anniversary this week. Surprise?"

"Makes sense why you didn't answer then. Where are you?"

"LaGuardia. Just got off the plane. I spent five hours in Heathrow and then another six and a half hours in the air so if you could hurry, that would be great. I'm exhausted and I need to shower."

"Yeah, yeah. I'll be there soon, stinky."

"Thanks, sis." she said, hanging up.

"She knows exactly how much I hate being called that, the little brat." I muttered half to myself.

"Who's a stinky little brat?" Gideon asked, highly amused.

"Oh, sorry, my sister, Dawn. She decided to surprise Xander for one of the many ridiculous anniversaries that they celebrate. She's not usually so impulsive, only when it comes to him, I guess. She never actually thought to tell Willow or I so now she's sitting at the airport, waiting to be picked up."

"She didn't think to call a cab?"

"Why spend money on a cab when you can annoy your big sister to death?"

Gideon laughed at that and escorted me out of the elevator as the doors opened.

"Very true, I suppose. I'm sure Angus wouldn't mind taking a small detour."

"Oh, no, I didn't mean—"

"Buffy, it's fine." Gideon said, smiling. "Don't mind at all."

"Are you sure? I mean, if you're busy or tired or whatev-"

"I'll meet you outside. Angus should be pulling around any minute now. I just have one last thing to take care of before we go."

I did as he said and walked outside. I watched as he walked up to the desk where the woman I'd had the trouble with Saturday and earlier tonight was standing. She was smiling profusely at him but the more he talked, the less she smiled. I found myself wishing that I could hear what he was saying. I imagined it was about her treatment of me and the scowl she threw at him the second he turned his back pretty much confirmed that.

Gideon joined me outside and pointed me towards the sleek SUV that I hadn't even noticed pulling up. Angus was already standing by, door opened, waiting for us.

"Ladies first" Gideon said, holding his hand out for me, smiling.

I really wished he'd stop being so nice and smiling and flirty. It was much easier to resist his charms when I had thought of him as a womanizing sleazebag.

Gideon slid in next to me. Angus shut the door and took his place in the driver's seat.

"Where to, sir?"

Gideon looked over at me, expectantly.

"Uh…um, LaGuardia. Please." I stammered. "My little sister has just randomly flown in from London." For some reason, I felt the need to clarify that to him.

"Oh! How wonderful!" he exclaimed.

Yeah, wonderful alright. I mean, sure, she would be extremely helpful around the ISC office. She pretty much did the same exact job I was doing right now in London so it's not like she wouldn't know her way around. Which meant that I could focus more on Ethan.

My only real concern with Dawn being here is that Willow and I were now going to be subjected to listening to her and Xander coo over how much they loved each other. I was already planning on making her sleep in the extra bedroom. There's no way in hell I was going to subject Willow and I to having to deal with any of I _that _/I nonsense.

"You know, that little stunt upstairs wasn't funny." I said, breaking the silence.

"I beg to differ. You certainly responded well."

My face heated. "Because it was so unexpected." I partially lied.

"Uh huh."

It was dark but I could tell he was smiling.

"Calm down. I was just playing around—giving them something different to print. I mean, we wouldn't want all of New York to think you're a heartbreaker now would we?"

"That's true. I really wouldn't want that. I imagine it would make it very hard for me to get dates in the future if the men of New York City think I'm going to break their little hearts." I said with a hint of sarcasm.

I could see the points of a scowl forming on his face and I swear that I heard him growl.

We were silent for another few moments before Gideon spoke again.

"What does your sister do at ISC London?"

"Basically the same job that I just landed here."

"She runs the entire company there by herself?" he asked, astonished.

"More or less, yeah. I mean, it's a team effort all around so it's not really 'alone' per se."

"How old is she?"

"Twenty two, almost twenty-three."

"Where did she go to school?"

"She finished high school at sixteen and went to Oxford before Giles gave control of London up to her."

"And when was that?"

"About three years ago, maybe? I can't actually remember. I was in Italy at the time."

"What were you doing in Italy?"

"Salvatore." I said, without thinking.

He laughed but there didn't seem to be any humor in his voice. It was very controlled.

I realized what I had said and my face heated up, yet again.

"That's not at all how I meant for that to come out. I just meant that's when I was living in Italy and dating Salvatore." I clarified.

"When did she and Xander get engaged?" he asked, thankfully ignoring the rest of that train wreck.

"Last Christmas. Dawn proposed to Xander. It was really kind of cute."

He smiled at that and then asked "When are they getting married?"

"I have no idea. What's with all the questions about my sister?"

"Hmm…curiosity, I guess."

"You know that killed the cat, right?" I hoped my lame joke would make up for the Salvatore slip.

He laughed loudly. "I guess I'm just interested in seeing how much alike or how different you are from each other."

"Why?"

"Why indeed, Miss Summers. Why indeed."

It did seem like he was trying to compare Dawn and I, from his perspective but what really did he know about me? We'd only met what, four times now? What could he possibly know about me in four meetings?

And then the why that he mentioned—why I _was _/I he so interested?

"What was your home life like together?"

"What?" I asked, startled out of my thoughts.

"I mean, growing up. Were you friendly with each other? Or…?"

"I guess it was pretty normal." If randomly waking up one day with a little sister with the memories of all the things you never actually did together implanted in your brain counted as normal. "We've always had that normal love/hate sibling relationship. I mean, she was, still is, the normal pain in the ass little sister, and I suppose to her I'm the normal pain in the ass older sister that is far too protective and won't get off her back."

"You care about her and are just trying to protect her."

His words surprised me greatly.

"Yeah, exactly. After Mom died, it was just her and I, family wise. We were the only two left. We had no grandparents, no aunts or uncles anywhere around and our father didn't want to be found. It was literally just the two of us. I had to be a mother to a fourteen year old girl at a very young age. Do you have any idea how terrifying that is?"

I had no idea why I'd spilled my guts to him and I was feeling slightly embarrassed by it but at the same time it felt kind of good, getting some of that off my chest. I had never really said any of that to the gang before for fear of sounding…I don't know. Whiny? Unappreciative? Weak?

"We've arrived, sir." Angus said. He got out and opened my door. I stepped out and immediately spied Dawn waiting a few feet away, in front of the airport entrance. She saw me as well, grabbed her luggage and came running. We enveloped each other in a large hug, a little too bone crushing on my part.

"Buff…can't breathe." she murmured, patting me on the back.

I quickly let her go. "Sorry! Are you alright?"

"Yeah, not the first time I've had to combat your freakish strength."

I hadn't noticed that Gideon had stepped out of the car as well. Dawn, however, did. I watched as her eyes scanned him appreciatively.

"Dawn, this is Gideon Cross. He-"

"—Bought the building that ISC is in, I know."

"How—" I began

"It's my job." she smiled, extending her hand to him. "Dawn Summers"

"Very pleased to meet you, Dawn." he said, with a smile.

"Is this all your luggage, Miss Summers?" Angus asked her.

She nodded and he grabbed it and put it in the back of the SUV.

"Why only one suitcase? How long are you staying?" I asked.

"I'm going to stay for a little while, I think. So I can—um, well, London is pretty over run these days with all sorts of…appraisers and such. I thought it would be a good time for a vacation. A really impulsive vacation which also accounts for my one suitcase. I only had an hour to get to the airport."

I sighed. "You're going to raid my closet, aren't you?"

"Isn't that what big sisters are for?" she said as she stepped into the car.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

_i b __**(Gideon's POV)**_/i /b

If I didn't think that Buffy would've had my hide for it, I would've offered Dawn Summers a job less than ten minutes into our conversation.

She was bright and articulate. She spoke passionately about her love of the old books and antiquities that she handled on a daily basis. It was an immense pleasure listening to Dawn speak so fondly of her job, especially at such a young age.

I, of course, could tell when Buffy and her were evading the supernatural bits of their jobs.

Something else I 'd begun to relish in our forty minute ride back to Manhattan was how proud Buffy was of her sister. She'd jab and pick at her, like I suppose siblings did, but I could see the love and admiration underneath it all.

There was just something about Buffy that kept drawing me in. I knew that it wasn't right—that I should just stay away-but I was finding that damn near impossible. There was something simply irresistible about her.

I wanted her, yes, but it just wasn't as easy as that. I craved her. I absolutely needed her, in every way possible. Judging by how she'd reacted when I'd wrapped my arm around her hip earlier, I would say that the feeling was, to at least a certain degree, mutual.

Of course, it could all change and backfire spectacularly the second I confessed knowing about her heritage as the Slayer and everything associated with it. Positive thinking, though.

"We've arrived, Sir." Angus said, breaking up their chatter and my thought process.

He got out and opened my door. I stepped out, taking Buffy's hand so she could balance in her high shoes. She tucked the little black clutch I'd gotten for her into a much larger, probably designer, handbag.

"Thanks." she smiled, releasing my hand and stepping up onto the sidewalk.

Angus had come back around the car, after retrieving Dawn's suitcase from the trunk. "Would you like me to have this brought up for you, Miss Summers?"

"Oh, no thank you. I can manage. It's not terribly heavy." Dawn replied, politely.

Angus turned to me. "Is that all for this evening, Mr. Cross?"

I nodded. "Goodnight, Angus."

"Goodnight, sir."

He got back into the SUV and pulled away.

"Wait-where's he going?" Buffy asked, confused.

"Well, I would assume that he's gone around to the parking garage to park the car for the evening and perhaps go to bed. But I'm only guessing."

I watched as Buffy's face grew panic stricken.

"But..I mean how…what…where.."

"I live in this building as well, Miss Summers."

She took a deep breath and straightened up.

"And just how long have you known where I live?"

"Since day number one. The apartment you, Miss Rosenberg and Mr. Harris are living in belonged to Rupert. I own this building. I offered the apartment to him as part of our business deal. You would've known that had you read through the agreements with me on the first day we met."

Several different emotions and expressions fluttered across her face.

"However, you can take comfort in knowing that I don't know exactly where you live. I had one of my real estate agents go through with Rupert."

"Seeing as how you own the building, you could find out anytime you want." she countered.

"That's true, I could…but I wouldn't do that. I'm not a stalker, after all." I smirked.

She rolled her eyes at me.

"I promise I will only ever come to your place if I am invited." I added on, with a little more sincerity.

"I was wrong." Dawn interrupted. "This suitcase is i _much_ /i too heavy for me to carry all the way up."

She walked over and shoved it into my hands.

"So you're now invited up because I need help carrying it. Feeble woman and all that." she grinned.

"Dawn, if it's really that heavy, you know that I—"

"Shut up and stop being rude, sister dear."

She grabbed Buffy's hand and dragged her inside.

"I think I like her." I grinned to myself.

Once inside, I nodded to the front desk attendant and met Buffy and Dawn by the elevators.

"So, if you do in fact live here, how come we've never run into each other in the lobby before? Or on the elevator?"

"I have a private elevator. Top floor."

"You should really show that to her sometime." Dawn smirked.

The elevator doors opened and the three of us slid in. Once they closed and Buffy had pressed the button for her floor, she turned to Dawn and hit her with her bag.

"What the hell, Buffy?!"

"You should really watch what comes out of your mouth, sister mine."

"That really hurt!"

"Oh stop. You're fine. Baby."

"Twit."

I watched as them in utter amazement as they slung insults at each other for another few minutes, the very last insult of 'asshat' coming from Buffy, which resulted in Dawn flinging her arms around Buffy and exclaiming in a giddy voice just how much she had missed her, even though it had only been a week.

Watching the way they interacted with each other made me slightly jealous. I almost wished that I could have a similar relationship with my siblings, if I didn't despise my family so much. Buffy and Dawn's relationship seemed so easy and carefree.

The elevator dinged and we stepped out into the corridor. I followed behind Buffy and Dawn as they talked animatedly about a mutual friend back in London, the little verbal spar of the elevator ride now forgotten.

We turned right once we got to the end of the corridor and stopped at the very first door. Dawn turned to me and grabbed the suitcase from my hands.

"Well, thanks for carrying this up here for me. Pleasure meeting you and all that. Goodnight!"

She disappeared behind the door, practically slamming it in Buffy's face.

Buffy sighed loudly and I could hear the frustration.

"I could just kill her sometimes."

"I think I might like her."

She rolled her eyes. "You've only known her for forty five minutes. Try a whole hour."

I nodded. Things got quiet and slightly awkward. I figured this was my chance.

"Buffy, please come to the gala with me."

She hesitated but I saw something flash in her eyes that made me think she might actually say yes this time.

"How about…I'll think about it?"

"Hmm...I suppose that's better than a no."

"It's just—"

"I understand. Think about it and let me know. Have lunch with me tomorrow?"

"I have a feeling that I'm going to be busy tomorrow once you email over Ginny's information."

"Fair enough. Wednesday then?"

"Wednesday is fine."

"Angus is as your disposal anytime you need him…just call down to the front desk."

"Gideon, you don't have to do that."

"But I want to. It's my pleasure."

She smiled. "I like walking. However, I may take you up on that the next time that it rains."

It was my turn to sigh audibly. "Buffy, walking isn't safe, especially at night."

I knew what her response would be but I couldn't help myself. The thought of her in actual danger disturbed me. 

"I can handle myself, Gideon."

"I bet you can."

There was more innuendo laced throughout it than I meant and she immediately picked up on it. Her face shaded to a deep, mortified red.

"That, that…that's not what I meant..oh god." she babbled.

"Relax—it's not what I meant either." I grinned. "I really should be going now. Tonight…was interesting, Miss Summers. Very interesting indeed."

She visibly relaxed—probably due to my departure.

"Thank you for dinner, Gideon. And for accompanying me to pick up Dawn. I really appreciate it."

"You're welcome. Noon on Wednesday. My office?"

"Yes, that's fine."

Unable to stop myself, I placed both hands on Buffy's door, trapping her between the door and myself. I leaned in, my lips just mere inches from hers. I heard her sharp intake of breath. I felt her hands fidget nervously at her sides. Her eyes darted down to the floor and then back up, landing on my lips.

"Until Wednesday then." I whispered.

She swallowed, nodded and her eyes fluttered closed.

It took every ounce of strength I had to not rip her dress to shreds and take her right in the hallway. I managed to pull myself away and head for the elevator, extremely excited for Wednesday.

_**bi (Buffy's POV) /b/i**_

I was leaning against my front door, eyes closed, panting and heart racing for a solid minute before I'd realized that he'd gone. I opened my eyes and placed my hand over my heart, trying to calm its rhythm.

I didn't understand how he could affect me so much. How he could make me feel this way after such a short time. I wondered briefly if he had been dabbling in love spells. He didn't seem the type but they never did. I would ask Willow about it.

Willow! Dawn! I'd nearly completely forgotten that I was standing outside my apartment. I took several deep breaths and went inside, slipping my shoes off at the door. I was prepared to give Dawn the verbal lashing of a lifetime for the little stunt she pulled but I didn't see her. There was only Willow, who was sitting on top of the kitchen island, eating a bag of potato chips.

"Where's Dawn?" I asked, dropping my bag on a chair and hopping up next to her.

"They saw each other, Xander swept her into a movie worthy embrace and then they disappeared." she said, pointing towards Xander's bedroom…which happened to be next door to mine.

"Ugh. Gross. Can I bunk with you tonight?" 

"Tell me about it! And yes, I was going to offer anyway. It's either that or the barren guest room." she said, offering me the bag of chips.

I took a larger-than-needed handful out. "Thanks. I'm starving."

"…Weren't you just at dinner an hour ago?"

"There wasn't much eating involved…"

"BUFFY!"

"Oh, I didn't mean it like that! I just meant that we talked. Well, he ate and I talked. It was more of a talking date than an eating date, I guess."

"Date?" Willow said, wagging her eyes at me.

"Gideon's terminology. Not mine."

I explained about Mr. Angry Host Brian, Gideon asking me to the gala and his little elevator stunt at the restaurant, plus the buying of the dress and the info that he had shared about Ginny.

"So, let me get this straight. He apologizes for coming on too strong. He says you're on a date, in front of a ton of people. Puts his hands all over you, in front of a ton of people. Buys you a two-thousand dollar dress plus accessories, granted from your psycho ex's fashion line-and you said no?"

"Willow, it's—"

"Don't you even say 'it's complicated'. Quantum Physics is complicated. Teleportation is complicated. Time travel is complicated. This is not. Do you like him? Even in the slightest bit?"

I blew out a large breath that I hadn't realized I'd been holding.

"Yes. Quite a lot, I think."

"Then what's the problem?"

"It's just so…fast. I've only known him for—"

"—a week. I know. But you know what, Buff? I've known him longer than that and he's a good person. I promise."

It was true that she'd known him longer…and she was a pretty good judge of character. 

However, I needed a topic change for the time being.

"Did I tell you I talked to Faith today? She said that Giles is on the mend. They still have him in the forced sleep thing though, just as a preventative."

"Yeah, Ember called me tonight to tell me about Genevieve."

"Genevieve?"

"The witch that you guys brought over with you. Ember finally got her to spill her name."

"That's great!" All of a sudden, it seemed like everything was starting to come together. I felt like I'd be pummeling Ethan very, very soon.

"But that's all we got. She died. She somehow managed to get something sharp and she cut her wrists. Ember did a mind dive as she was going out but all she could pick up was her name. No one else's and no motive."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"Well, at least that's something, right?"

We sat in silence for a moment. I stuffed a cookie in my mouth, having moved on from the potato chips.

"Bright side, Ember said that if we needed another Coven member over here to help find the rest of them that she was available now…"

I raised my eyebrow at her. Her voice had gotten very hopeful and upbeat at the prospect of Ember joining us in NYC.

"Willow Rosenberg…do you have a crush?"

Her eyes widened. "NO. I mean, no. I just think that she…would be…very…useful. To us. In finding Ethan and the rest of them. Her and I could work together to locate them."

"Yeah, yeah. Save it. I know when you're crushing."

"And so do I, with you."

"Okay, fine. You win." I said, with a long, drawn out sigh.

"Yay! Wait, what did I win?"

I rolled my eyes at her. "I'll give him a chance. I'll go to the gala with him."

"YAAAAY!"

"Oh Willow. The little things that make you happy."

"You being happy makes me happy."

I smiled. "Ditto."

"Just…I would be careful. With Gideon. You said that he said that Sal is a business associate of his?"

"Yeah…what are you saying Will?"

"I'm saying be careful. If Sal finds out that you and Gideon are romantically interested in each other…he could make things pretty messy." 

That was the truest statement of the night. The thought of Sal hurting Gideon in any way, shape or form made me think violent thoughts.

"You know me. Careful's my middle name."

It was Willow's turn to raise her eyebrow at me.

"Really? Do I even have to pretend to agree to that?"

"Oh shut up." I laughed, throwing a cookie at her.

"Come on. Let's go bunk up. I feel like tomorrow's going to be a very long day."

"Shall we leave our mess for the lovebirds?" I asked.

We both grinned.

"Definitely." 

"You're giving me your job?! I'm supposed to be on vacation, remember?"

"Dawn, it's only temporary. So I can focus solely on finding Ethan and his horde and commence pummeling them into the year 3,298."

"Oh, well, when you put it that way...I guess so."

"Gee, thanks for that."

"Buffy, you're being crabby again."

"Kind of a lot on my plate right now, Dawn."

"Okay, okay. I get that." she said, putting up defensive hands. "I would be happy to look after your job—temporarily as I have the same job waiting for me at home—while you scooby gang this mystery. And I also would like to put in my request right now for a front row seat of said Ethan pummeling."

"Thank you and request accepted."

"Gideon just emailed over Ginny's info." Willow said, walking into my office with a small stack of papers in her hand.

"All of that was on file at his hotel?" I asked, stunned.

"Nope. Just her driver's license and credit card number. I got the rest of this by illegally hacking into government files." she answered, proudly.

I took a copy of the paper with her driver's license and credit card number on it. The photo was just a grainy black and white copy, but even from that I could tell how beautiful she was.

"Her address is listed as being in Boston. Is this correct, Will?"

"Yep. I just visited her there a couple months ago. Place is brand new."

"Okay then Dawn, I want you to call HQ there and have them send some Slayers over to check her place out. In the mean time, I'm going to run her credit card number and see if anything pops up."

Willow and Dawn both stared at me increduously.

"What?"

"How do you know how to run credit card numbers? It's computer-y." asked Willow.

"It doesn't have to be. You have your ways and I have mine." I smirked. "Dawn, if they give you any trouble in Boston, just throw out Faith's name. Works every time."

Willow and I left Dawn in my office and went down to hers. I did a quick google search for her specific credit card company's phone number and dialed them up.

While I was on hold, I was going through the ways I could play this. With most places, you could just ask for your last few transactions and they'd tell you no problem but I needed to be prepared just incase of a problem.

If it was a guy that answered, I supposed that I could play all seductive and ditzy. That usally worked pretty well. If it was a lady, I could play the _'I think my significant other is cheating on me and I need to know the last five transactions, please.' _route. That one was tricky. It only had about a sixty-forty success rate.

About ten minutes later, a woman's voice came across, introducing me to her and asking how she could help me today. I again verified my name as Virginia Rivers, with date of birth, zip code and the last four of her social.

Willow's hacking skills had clearly not rusted at all since high school.

I asked for my last ten transactions and she happily obliged so I didn't need to do anymore acting than necessary. I wrote them down as fast as she rattled them off. By the time the call was over, Dawn was already walking into Willow's office.

"Okay, so first things first—why in God's name do they hate the New York office so much? I literally had to keep repeating Faith's name over and over for them to even listen to me."

"Told you so." Willow and I said in unison.

"Secondly, they checked the place out real fast. Turns out it's only right around the corner from where Slayer Central is located in Boston. They said no one was there but it was ransacked pretty bad. Sent over some photos too. Police called it a 'botched robbery attempt' but the Head Slayer I talked to there said she thought it was more like they were turning the place over on purpose. Like, they were trying to make it look like a botched robbery."

"So that when Ginny's family realizes that she's missing, they'll think it's something to do with that instead..." I said, finishing Dawn's thought.

"Exactly. What did you guys find out with the credit card?"

"The last charge on it was a motel in New Jersey yesterday. Before that, there are motel charges going back to Thursday ranging all across the City."

"So we're thinking that this motel in New Jersey is the best bet?" said a lyrical, Irish brogue from the doorway.

All three of us looked up to find Ember standing in the doorway, with Xander behind her.

"Ember! Willow mentioned last night about you wanting to come help us here since Genevieve decided to move on. I just didn't realize it was going to be so soon."

"The sooner we catch the bastards that hurt Giles, the better, right?"

"Can't argue with that. Come sit down. We were just discussing plans. We may have found more of them." I said.

"How? Where? How?" Xander babbled.

"Gideon emailed over the information his hotel had on file for Ginny. Driver's license and credit card number. I did some hacking and Buffy did some lying over the telephone and voila—the last ten transactions on her credit card."

"Okay—let's suit up." Xander said.

"Xander, I want you to stay here with Dawn." Willow said.

"What? No. Why?"

"Because I want you to man HQ with her. She came all this way to surprise you. You're not leaving her alone." Willow replied.

"I agree. Who's the best Slayer in town?" I asked.

"You." Willow, Xander, Ember and Dawn said in unison.

"Okay, besides me."

"That would be Adele." Willow said.

"Get her up here right now. We're going to Trenton. You, me, Ember and her. I guarantee we find at least one of them there."

"Buffy...are you missing the part where this could be a huge trap?" Dawn asked.

"It doesn't matter. We're going to find every single one of them and make them pay for what they did to Giles."

"She's right, Dawnie. Sometimes...sometimes we just have to accept that and go in anyway. How are we getting there? Trenton is about an hour and a half away. Closer to two and a half hours with traffic." Willow said.

"You're right...driving will take too long. I can get us there." Ember said.

"How?" I asked.

"Magic of course." she smiled. "I can do a sort of teleport spell. All I need is a picture of where we are going."

Willow had her phone out and a picture of the crappy little motel up in under a minute.

"Yeah, that will do." she said.

Xander walked back in the room moments later with a tall, strikingly beautiful woman behind him. She had porcelain skin and dark, mocha colored hair that was cut short into a pixie cut. She wore dark blue leggings with a long, matching printed tank top and tennis shoes.

"Adele, this is Buffy, Head Slayer." Xander said, introducing us.

"It is wonderful to finally meet you. I am sorry it has not been sooner."

She spoke with a wonderful French accent.

"Yes, sorry...there's just been so much going on and I'm really horrible at meeting everyone." I rambled.

"Xander has filled me in on the task. When do we leave?"

"Right now." Ember said. "We're travelling via witchcraft. Got a problem with that?"

Adele shrugged. "Not as much, no."

"Alright, everyone that's going, get in a circle. It'll be easier if I'm in the middle. Everyone grab ahold of me and tightly. I suggest the arms as they are easier to grasp. It's better to close your eyes as well. Everyone ready? Okay, good. Here we go!"

I closed my eyes and there was a loud pop and an even louder crack and then instead of the cool air conditioning of the office we had just been in, I felt the hot and sticky humidity that was outside. I opened my eyes and we were smack dab behind the motel.

"We better hurry. I can sense the other witches here and they without a doubt heard that." Willow said.

"Can you perhaps sense what room they might be in?" Adele asked.

Willow and Ember linked hands and closed their eyes while quietly chanting something. A moment later, a little green dot appeared out of nowhere.

"It's a sort of locator spell. If you want it to find vamps, it turns red. Werewolves, blue. Witches, green. It's supposed to lead you to the ones closest to you...hopefully it does that. I've never actually used this version before..." Willow babbled.

Ember blew on the little green dot and it floated around the building, up a set of metal stairs and down the walkway on the outside of the motel. It stopped at the very last door and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Well, time to test your spell, Will." I said.

"Be careful, Buf-"

My foot kicked the door off it's hinges before Ember could finish her sentence. A huge gush of wind rolled out and shaped itself into a being. A witch booby trap, I'd bet.

The Wind Creature put it's wind hands on me and shoved me forcefully into the railing. I yelled for the rest of them to not worry about me and to get inside.

It came at me again and I tried to punch it but my fist just went straight through it. I probably should've figured that was going to happen but I had to try. I mean, how in the hell do you fight witch wind?! It could touch me but I couldn't touch it.

It came at me again while I was contemplating and flipped me over the railing. I grabbed the bottom wrungs and held on tight. It came again, this time snapping the metal railing I was holding onto. I fell to the ground with a painful thud. I rolled under the walkway itself. I only just barely missed getting impaled as pieces of the railing fell after me. They clattered loudly on the pavement.

I stayed where I was for a few minutes, not only to make sure that thing wasn't coming back after me but to also hopefully let a few bones start to repair themselves, namely a few ribs.

I wasn't worried about the girls at all. If that thing went after them, Willow and Ember would more than likely be able to get rid of it.

When I was able to finally catch my breath, I made my way up the stairs and back into the room, careful to side step the piece of railing that had been ripped off.

Adele was holding a young girl down while Ember was on the other side of the room, weaving magical binds around another woman. She looked to be about my age. She had very long, very blonde hair—almost Rapunzel-esque. Her eyes were so blue that they glowed. She was most definitely not human. I couldn't quite make out what she was though and that bothered me extensively. Whatever it was, it made me nauseous.

The young girl that Adele was holding onto looked to be in her late teens. My guess would be around seventeen or eighteen. She had shoulder length, jet black hair and muted green eyes. Her skin was so light that she could almost pass for a doll. She contrasted that with very heavy, black makeup.

I wouldn't be surprised in the least if she thought vamps were 'cool'.

I asked Adele where Willow was and she nodded towards the bathroom. I gently pushed the door open and found her kneeling over a woman in the bathtub.

They were whispering quietly between each other. The woman sounded frantic. Couldn't blame her there. I would be too.

I figured that this must be Ginny.

I walked fully into the bathroom and to my complete and utter horror, saw why Ginny was so frantic.

She had no eyes.

At all.

It was like her eyelids had stretched downwards and fused themselves at the tops of her cheekbones.

"Willow..."

"She's been cursed. And magically bound." Willow said, softly.

"I see that. I mean, um, that's not what I meant. I...yeah."

Willow ignored my terrible slip up. "I can't undo the curse. It's too powerfully done."

"It's okay, Will. Don't panic. We'll get her help. Who are the two out there?"

"The teenager is Ginny's sister, Phoebe. She's been going by Morgana on the streets. She's the reason Ginny had come to NY. She'd run away after a fight with her parents and Ginny was trying to get her to come back to Boston with her."

"And the other?"

"Ginny said she heard Phoebe call her Lorlana."

"What is she? She's definitely not human. She makes me sick to my stomach."

"I haven't had a whole lot of time to study her obviously but I think she might be a tálbeita."

"And that is?"

"They're land Sirens.Tálbeita is an Icelandic term for 'lure' or 'decoy'. Part demon, part witch. They have witch-like powers, but it's not quite the same. They can summon objects, appear, disappear...showy-gypsy stuff. Not real magic. Their real power lies in their ability to lure. It makes them highly contractible in the demon world."

"How come I've never heard of them before?"

"Well..." Willow's face contorted as she finished with the ties that Ginny had been bound with. I knew she was trying to phrase her next sentence as to not hurt my feelings.

"You're just not as...bookworm-y as I am." she finished.

"Okay, that's fair. So what do you think we should do?"

"I think that Ginny should be looked at by the Coven but they're still working with Giles...maybe if we take her back to ISC, I can pull out my witch rotary and see who's available to help?"

"I like that idea. I want Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee back to ISC as well. We can lock them up downstairs. Twenty-four hour guards and all that."

"You and Ember can do what you want with Lorlana but let me talk with Pheebs, okay?"

"Deal. We should get out of here before someone sees us. That wind thing kind of broke the railing and made a huge mess outside."

Willow and I carefully helped Ginny out of the bathtub. We led her into the other room where Ember was just finishing the magical binds on Phoebe-Morgana. They both looked like they'd been knocked out. I said so to Ember who just shrugged and said it was easier that way.

"Bad news, Buffy. The trip mixed with the heavy duty binds I just weaved...I think my magic is starting to wane." Ember said as a few sparks fizzled out of Phoebe's binds.

"Okay, how many do you think you could take back with you? Could Willow help at all?" I asked.

"So, like, I'm this really great witch and part Goddess and all but truth be told, I kind of suck at teleportation." Willow said.

"Kind of suck or really suck?" Ember asked.

"The last time I tried, I ended up in Indonesia."

We stared at her blankly.

"I was aiming for Central Park." she clarified.

"Okay so back to the original question...Ember how many do you think you could take?" I asked again.

"Five. At the most."

"How will we decide who goes back?" Adele asked.

"Not a problem—already decided. Ember, I want you to take these two plus Ginny back to ISC. Make sure they get locked up and Ginny gets to the infirmary. No interogating without me and I want instant guards on them. A mix of Slayers and witches, got it? Adele, you go with them. Willow and I will find a way back."

They got themselves positioned and then there was another loud pop-crack and they were gone.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

Willow and I left the motel rather quickly and headed into town. We found a coffee shop and went inside.

"Okay, so, we've tried calling Dawn and Xander but they're quite expectedly unreachable. Adele and Ember are more than likely down underground so it would be useless calling them. I doubt they've even had a chance to tell Dawn or Xander why we aren't with them. The sun is still up so it would be just as useless calling Angel and Spike—"

"Thank you for the recap, Will, but I told you. I'm not calling him."

"Then how do you propose we get home? It's been half an hour already. I want to question Pheebs as soon as possible and I know you're itching to talk to Lorlana."

"We'll call a can. Or find a bus. Or take the train. And if you mean talk with my fists, then yes. Yes I am."

"How much money do you have in your pockets right now?"

She pulled a ten and a five dollar bill out of her jeans followed by some loose change.

I dug in my pockets and found a total of five dollars and forty three cents.

"Naturally neither one of us thought to carry a credit card around at all today." I sighed. "Okay so public transport is out but we can at least get coffee while we figure this out. Actually, I can get coffee and you can get something decaffeinated."

"Let me see your phone." Willow said, her eyes suddenly flashing.

"Why?" I was wary of her sudden bossiness. Nothing good usually came from it.

"I'd really like to not be stuck in New Jersey anymore and I just thought of a person we could call. So hand over your phone. Now-ish please." 

I handed Sassy McSasserpants my phone. She flicked through for a minute, tapped on something and handed it back to me. She grabbed our money from the table and went to get our beverages.

I looked down at the phone.

i _'Calling Gideon Cross…'_/i

Several endearments came to my head for Willow and not one of them was sweet.

He answered before I could hang up and claim pocket dial.

"Miss Summers…what a pleasant surprise. Do you miss me already?"

"No, I—"

"Ouch. I'm hurt."

"Oh, no. That's not what I meant—"

"So you b **do**/b miss me."

"I need a favor." I blurted out.

"You sure are racking them up quick."

"Yeah, start a tab."

"You're feisty today." he laughed. "Where are you? I just called to speak with Willow and Dawn said that you and she were working out of office today."

"That's kind of where the favor comes in…."

"What do you need?" he asked, his voice laced with curiosity.

"A ride."

"That's your favor. A ride? Where are you?"

"It is and we're at a rather lovely Starbucks in Trenton."

"Interesting. And if I may inquire as to why you're stuck at a Starbucks in Trenton…?"

"Classified."

"Ah. Job number one today? I had no idea that Miss Rosenberg was employed in that field as well."

"She's very good at her job."

"I'll say. Well, you've talked me into it. Say no more—your knight in shining armor is on the way."

He hung up before I could bust him on the corny line.

Willow sat back down and handed me a large, foamy, coffee drink.

"And?" she questioned.

"You're a sneaky, distrustful s-o-b."

"And?"

"I may fire you."

"And?"

I took a sip and swirled it around for a minute. Ice cold coffee heaven.

"He's on his way. Or, rather, Angus probably is."

"You told me last night that he was leaving his driver at your disposal so why not take him up on that offer? Specifically since we're in need of it."

"Around the city, Will. Not to and from another state."

"Technically, it's just the from."

"Not helping."

"Why is this bothering you so much?"

"It's not." I said, heavily annoyed.

"There's obviously a reason why you didn't want to call him."

"I guess I'm just scared." I murmured.

"Of what? His driving skills? You said his driver was coming. No big."

"No, not that. Overall."

"Why?" she asked. She relaxed in her seat and took a sip of her iced tea.

Willow had slipped into the role of therapist. Good thing we had some time to kill.

I took a deep breath. "It's the first time I've even remotely considered the idea of dating since Salvatore. It's moving way too fast. Gideon seems way too normal for me and I have no idea how it's going to work out. And on top of that, I'm super stressed, not so much about Giles because I know for a fact that he's going to be okay but I'm worried that we won't find Ethan. He's managed to hide himself better than ever and I'm feeling spectacularly horrible about how I've been treating Angel and Spike."

She took another long sip of her tea, taking the time to process and analyze everything that I had said.

"Number one," she said after about five minutes. "You're right. You don't need to worry about Giles. He's going to be absolutely fine. We b **will**/b catch Ethan and the other one and they will pay for what their misdeeds. Number two- I know that you think that the stuff with Sal is still a fresh wound, but is it because you really were hurt that bad? Or is it just because he's around now? In the last three years, you've not mentioned him once. Not to mention, you've had exes that have done worse things than he did. Personally, I think it's just because he's here now and it's bringing all the unpleasantness back to the surface."

I mulled my response over another sip of my drink.

"I see your point and I understand it, but may I make a rebuttal?"

"You may."

"It wasn't the fact that he'd said he wanted to turn me. Not the first time I've heard it and it's not been the last. I haven't told anyone this…so just bear with me, okay?"

"Okay…." Her voice told me she knew it was bad.

"It was the fact that he meant it. I explicitly told him no, repeatedly, and in many different fashions. He said he would do as he pleased. He was going to do it whether I wanted him to or not. He would be the last one to have me and it was going to be eternity. Death wasn't even an option. And that terrified me, beyond belief. Still does. He's thousands of years old and a lot stronger than any…"

I was suddenly aware that we were in a very public place. I lowered my voice a bit.

"…vampire could ever be. I haven't said a word about him in three years because I've been too scared to. I thought that he would somehow be able to hear me say it or he would be able to sense me or something. It sounds so stupid, I know. I could've had this job three years ago but I turned Giles down. Why do you think I chose to come back to Slayer Central and exile myself there?"

"Because that's where you would be the safest." Willow said in understanding. "You were in hiding."

"I figured that even if he did somehow find me, there would be no way he'd try anything if I was surrounded by hundreds upon hundreds of Slayers."

"Why didn't you tell us this before, Buff? We could've done something then."

"It makes me feel weak. It makes me feel like just another _i 'Movie of the Week'_/i on Lifetime. I despise feeling weak."

"SyFy, definitely. Lifetime…not so much." she smiled. "I promise you that we will get this sorted out, asap. You should've said something though."

I took a deep, kind of calming breath. I really loved her. "Thank you. I know for a fact that Angel and Spike will help. They'd love nothing more than to ruin his day."

"That can most definitely be arranged but I think you should ask. Kill two birds with one stone. Sal gets pushed out of the way and I'm almost positive that it would count as apologizing to them."

I loved the idea of it. I just needed them to actually answer my calls.

"Number three- If Gideon is moving too fast, you need to tell him that. Do you think that he's going to be mad and suddenly become uninterested in you or something?"

Slightly ashamed, I nodded my head yes. It was uncanny how well Willow knew me.

"Then you're a big, stupid idiot head."

"Oh, gee, thanks, Will."

"If you can't see how smitten he is with you, then, I'm sorry, but, you're a big stupid idiot head. I realize that you've only known him for a week but I've known him for months now and I can already see the little changes in him."

"Oh, so you're best friends now?" It came out harsher than I'd meant.

"No and don't be catty. He's called me every single day since the first day you met. I may or may not have been entirely truthful with you…" Willow said as color rapidly drained from her face.

"Spill it, Rosenberg."

"The second day you met him? Outside of his hotel? I told him you were going to be there. He had called me the night before and I may or may not have let it slip that you were going to be out and about the next day….and then when you mentioned how curious it was that he was there, to us, I just made up a story about the hotel undergoing major renovations and told him that in case you asked about it."

I didn't know what to say so I just laughed.

"Willow Rosenberg…are you trying to play matchmaker?"

"Yes and I would like feedback on how I'm doing so far."

"Hmm," I said, in thought. "Not bad, actually. All the awkwardness has come straight from me. It makes so much sense why you and Xander were so gung-ho about him on Saturday afternoon. Wait, has Xander even had any input in this?"

"Not at first. I didn't fill him in until after you left to go meet Angel and Spike Saturday. The fact that he was on my side is purely coincidental."

I leaned back in my chair, took another sip of my drink and a thought occurred to me.

"You said he's spoken to you every single day?"

"He stopped by my office Wednesday night to drop some papers off that he hadn't had a chance to give you earlier in the day. He said you'd left pretty quickly….something about a date with moving men? I'd told him that we hadn't had any moving men coming, that I knew of, because you and Xander were just moving in with me, into Giles's apartment. There was nothing to move, except your suitcases."

"That explains how he knew we were all living together. I left his office because there was some seriously thick tension and not the bad kind. I couldn't deal so I wigged and ran."

She looked at me quizzically. "He said he knew we were living together?"

"Saturday night, at the club. He asked me if I was romantically attached to either you or Xander and he mentioned that he knew we lived together."

"Ew! No offense."

I laughed. "None taken. I thought the same."

"I wonder why he asked that…I told him you were single."

"Willow!"

"What? He asked me Wednesday night as he was leaving my office."

Giving up on that, I moved on. "And Thursday?"

"Thursday, it was background stuff. Where you were born, your parents, siblings, schools, etc etc. Friday, it was if I thought you'd say yes if he asked you to dinner and if so, what were your favorite foods and drinks? We've already discussed Saturday. Sunday afternoon, it was two things—why you'd been so mad the night before and how you had reacted to his care package. Yesterday morning, he wanted to know your size details, which I found a little creepy, but then he told me what it was for—the dress, obviously. Had I known he was going Brugetti, I would've said something about that but he never mentioned. I obviously don't know if he's called yet today but I would bet a thousand dollars that he has. And that he will be asking me your reaction to every single detail about last night. He's pretty close to a teenage girl."

"He did say that he had called your office and got Dawn. She told him we were both working out of office today." I said, once the laughter from Will's 'teenage girl' comment had quieted.

"And what should I tell him?" she asked, yet again waggling her eyes at me.

I sipped the last bit of my drink down.

"Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"I mean, I'll tell him myself that I had a slightly confusing, really awkward yet nice time."

"Oh, thank Goddess. I love you more than you could ever know but it's getting exhausting fielding his calls, on top of everything else, every day."

"I'll talk to him about that too. If he wants to know things about me, he should be asking me, not you. He knew my drink of choice Saturday night and it made me curious and a little creeped out but now that I know it was you…"

Willow's demeanor shifted.

"Back to the whole being-stressed-about-Ethan thing…I think there's more than just that bothering you." she said, changing the subject.

I sat up a little straighter in my chair and cleared my throat slightly.

"You'd be correct."

"Spill it."

"I feel…guilty."

"Buffy, I told you that—"

"Not because I wasn't here when it happened, well, okay, yes, that, but not what I meant."

"I'm confused."

I took a deep breath. "I feel guilty for all this flirty stuff with Gideon. I came here to help run ISC while Giles is down and out, but mainly, I'm here to help find the baddies and kick ass. Not to casually flirt with billionaire bachelors."

"I agree."

"But…?"

She sipped the last of her tea.

"Why can't you do both?"

"I feel like I'm not spending enough time out on the streets. I'm not doing enough research. Back in Sunnydale—"

"Back in Sunnydale, we only had a handful of people and resources. Now, we have , in just New York City alone, nine hundred and fifty Slayers, a team of over eight hundred Watchers, twenty vampire contacts, ten we can actually trust, fifteen demon contacts, one hundred and forty-five Wicca's and approximately thirty different barkeep snitches."

"On the other hand, when you put it that way…."

"I only sent Giles overseas because, not that I don't trust my Wicca's here, but I wanted him to have the very best care. Plus, I think he's got a thing for Nerys. She came over here once to escort her niece to Watcher camp and her and Giles were quite inseparable."

Nerys was an older woman, pretty close to Giles age. She was beautifully dark skinned, with pitch black hair and an exceptional body for someone her age. She was also Willow's Wicca sponsor. If Willow had a bad day and things got to the point that veiny Willow might make a reappearance, she contacted Nerys immediately.

"Willow Rosenberg—businesswoman, badass Wiccan, partial Goddess and matchmaker extraordinaire."

She wrinkled her nose. "Nah, too wordy."

We were silent for a minute or so before she spoke up again.

"As for the whole 'Gideon is normal and I'm not' thing…have you thought about maybe going off and doing a bit of normal yourself? This whole life doesn't have to be yours anymore, you know."

"I have thought about it before and I'll stop when the time is right but that's not now. As long as I'm still physically and mentally able to handle this job, I'll do it. Been through too much to leave it behind."

"I accept and understand that."

"So?"

"So?"

"No advice on that one?"

Willow twirled her empty cup in her hands, mulling something over.

"I think you should tell Gideon."

"Tell him what?"

"About your…job. The mostly at night one."

"A.) That makes it sound like I'm a stripper and/or a hooker. B.) Are you crazy?"

"Why not tell him? It's bound to come up sooner or later. In fact, it already has. On several occasions. Right now, being one of them."

"i Why not?/i Would you like a list of reasons?"

"Yes, actually. I would love one." she said, issuing the challenge.

"Okay, fine. Number one—his safety would be iinstantly/i jeopardized. Number two—the paparazzi issue. Number three—The mind shattering rejection he'd dish out."

"Rebuttal. Number one—Protect him. Number two—Leave the camera pushers to Xander and I. Number three—How do you know he'd reject you?" she countered.

"He has this big, fancy, normal life. His day consists of work and meetings and gym visits and dinners and parties and television and bed. My day is full of training a bunch of pubescent teenage girls how to fight mons—bad guys. He's normal and I'm the freak."

My light mood from earlier had quickly dissipated. Of course he'd reject me if he found out. All the normal boys did, eventually.

"How many times do you need to hear it? You're not a freak, Buff. You're a superhero! A damn good one, too. And he's not as normal as you'd like to think. I did some background digging awhile ago—"

"Willow, am I going to have to take your computer privileges away?"

"Shush. It was before—when he'd first expressed interest in investing with ISC. As it turns out, he's had some issues of his ow-…that are absolutely none and I mean I none /i of my business. Not at all. I know nothing. Was there caffeine in this tea? I specifically said decaf!"

I raised my eyebrow at her not-that-strange-for-Willow outburst but immediately understood.

It was insane how I could feel him approaching. He put his hand on my chair.

"Am I interrupting something?" Gideon asked, looking curiously between us.

I could see how nervous Willow was, wondering if he'd heard her.

"No, not really. We were just having a little heart-to-heart. I needed Willow to help me sort through some things. Verbally."

He looked between us again.

"And did she help?"

I couldn't quite read his tone and that slightly unnerved me.

"She always does." I smiled.

"I'm glad to hear it." 

"If you two are about done flirting, I'd like to get back to the city now." Willow said, standing up.

I stood as well and followed her out the door. Gideon opened the passenger door of the black SUV for me and the back door for Willow.

"Where's Angus?" I asked, slightly confused.

Gideon slid into the driver's seat and started the engine.

"I gave him the rest of the afternoon off."

"Before or after I called?"

"After." he admitted.

"Why?" I questioned.

He eased into traffic. "Does it matter? He's my employee."

"No. I didn't mean anything—just curious is all."

"I was in a particularly good mood. I felt like sharing. Are you shocked that I can actually drive?" he mocked.

I shook my head and glanced back at Willow but she was already busy into work mode on her phone.

Damn it. I'd been counting on her to help ease some of the awkward tension in the car.

Though, hadn't we just discussed that I was the only one giving off the awkward vibe? If I just acted and behaved normally, everything would be fine.

Or as close to 'fine' as it gets in my world.

We were silent for a bit as Gideon cruised down the interstate.

"Thank you." I said, finally. About thirty or forty minutes had passed.

He glanced sideways at me but didn't answer. We were coming into heavy traffic now and it was slowing way down.

"I mean it. Thank you. We were really kind of helpless back there. With Dawn and Xander not answering…anyway, thank you. It means the world to me." I spewed out, pulling my hair up into a ponytail.

"You're welcome." he said, simply.

I could feel his eyes on me, just staring.

I thought about making a 'keep your eyes on the traffic' remark but I didn't. I went with the ever classic 'stare much'?

He tore his gaze away from me and focused back on the traffic in front of us. There was something seriously amiss in his mood now. Tension filled the car in heaps and it was one hundred percent coming straight from him.

I felt my phone buzz in my pocket. I dug it out to see that it was a text from…Willow?

i "Bruises and dried blood. Side of your head, between your ear and temple. He's just noticed." /i

Bruises? Dried blood? Oh. I was knocked off of a second story walkway earlier. Right. Funny how you seem to forget those things.

My first instinct was to pull down the visor and check them out in the mirror but I refrained. Too obvious.

i "Thanks for telling me about them before! What should I do?!"

"Sorry! Your hair was down! I didn't notice until you just pulled your hair back! I guess I'm just used to seeing you beat up? Is that rude to say?" /i

Rude…? Eh, not really. It was a pretty fair statement.

i "Right. So I just pretend they are invisible and he is crazy?"

"At least until we get back…I think he's probably not saying anything about it because I'm here. I don't think he's mad at you, per se….I mean, you didn't see how much he tensed up when he noticed them. But I'm also not a mind reader. That's your area!" /i

Damn Willow's backseat vantage point. She was absolutely right, though. The man was rigid in his seat. He was gripping the steering wheel so hard I thought it might splinter.

I wanted to say something that would make him calm down, anything at all, but what would I say?

Something funny? i "You should see the other guy!" /i

Who was actually not a corporeal being at all, but made entirely out of wind...

No. Instincts told me that he would not find one bit of this funny at all.

What icould /i I say? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Willow's earlier declaration that I should tell him the truth about myself was ringing loudly in my ears.

Could someone as down right normal as Gideon Cross accept my chosen destiny? If I told him and he didn't immediately deem me a psychopath, would he be able to accept me as is? Or would he (try to) force me to retire?

Would he tell me that he couldn't risk everything that he'd built for himself on this kind of a life? Or would he simply just tell me that he was no longer interested and that'd be the end of it?

We were all silent for the rest of the ride, busy contemplating our problems. The slow traffic had picked it's pace back up and we were once again moving steadily. My phone had died at some point, when, I wasn't sure, so Willow couldn't text me anymore of her back seat vantage points.

We were just coming into Manhattan when he finally spoke.

"Would you ladies like to have dinner? I'm sure that you both must be starving."

I looked away from my window to the dash. It was nearly seven. The hour and a half trip had taken just over two hours. I liked teleporting much better.

Willow didn't say anything, I suppose leaving the decision up to me. It was a tempting offer—sitting in a well lit restaurant while Gideon stared angrily at my head.

"Thanks but we should get back to ISC. My phone died awhile ago and I bet Dawn's gone frantic."

"Unless her and Xander are hiding out in your office." Willow chimed in.

Ugh! Talk about unwanted visuals!

"That's even more reason to get back to ISC."

Gideon glanced over at me curiously.

"So I can kick their asses out and scrub every inch of my office with hospital grade disinfectant." I clarified.

In reality, I needed to clean myself up and then I wanted to grab Ember and head down to the basement so we could start grilling Lorlana for info. Ember may not be a Slayer but she's definitely strong and the aforementioned powerful. I just hoped all the teleporting she'd done today hadn't wiped her out too much.

I knew that Willow was just as anxious to get down there and start on Phoebe/Morgana too.

"As you wish." he said, quietly.

"Did…did you just quote i 'The Princess Bride'/i ?"

I thought I saw the ghost of a smile start to form.

"I might have. Is it your favorite movie or something?"

He clearly knew that it was—more Willow info.

"Eh, it's okay. I don't particularly care for the way that Westley leads Buttercup on at first, pretending to be The Dread Pirate Roberts."

I'd said it jokingly but as soon as it was out, I'd realized that in this scenario, I was Westley. I was leading Gideon on with the façade of…nearly everything.

He pulled up in front of ISC a few minutes later. Willow thanked him profusely for the ride and hopped out while I lingered in my seat. Something in the air shifted and I wasn't entirely sure if it was good or not. I felt like we both needed some kind of reassurance. I don't know why.

"Gideon, I—"

"You better get inside. Make sure your sister and her fiancé are behaving."

If he thought he was going to brush me off that easily…um, nope!

"Okay, so I'm going to tell you're the details of mine and Willow's heart-to-heart this afternoon."

"I don't need to know, Buffy."

"Nonsense. It has to do with you so you're going to hear it. Just not at this exact moment. It's not something I wish to discuss in a car, in the middle of Manhattan. Especially with the thought that someone could come flying up with a camera any minute."

"When is this forced conversation taking place then?"

I couldn't tell if he was being humorous or not.

"Noon tomorrow, over lunch, your office. We have a date, remember? Speaking of, I have many favorite foods, as you've no doubt heard, but there's this deli just down the street from here that makes the most delicious chick and shrimp salad. I get one every time I'm in New York."

He turned in his seat and eyed me curiously.

"As for the completely awkward ride home, which was totally my fault, by the way, the bruises and dried blood were the result of some…field work today."

He let out a large breath of air.

"It's just, when you said 'Federal Agent', I wasn't expecting that you'd get hurt."

Oh my-Gideon Cross concern. Definitely swoon worthy.

"I'm tougher than I look. Nobody seems to be able to grasp that fact. I promise you that I'm fine. These are all things that will be discussed tomorrow afternoon."

"I'm starting to see that. Before you get out, I have one question that I don't think can wait."

"Shoot. Not literally. I have an immense fear of guns."

He cocked an eyebrow but went on.

"i I have many favorite foods, as you've no doubt heard./i" he quoted.

"That's your 'cannot wait' question? Out of everything I've said? Including the fact that the cuts and bruises you've been staring at on the side of my face for two hours are very nearly gone? That's the one? Well, okay then—"

"Actually, I have two, now tat you mention it."

"Two's the limit."

"Scout's honor." he said, doing the traditional cub scout two finger salute.

I rolled my eyes. "Question number two would be…?"

"You haven't answered number one yet."

"I like my questions bundled. I like to decide which one is more important and gets answered first."

"That seems…reasonable. Will you come with me Saturday night?"

I should've known. I really, really should of.

"That question takes precedence. I'll give you my answer tomorrow, after we've talked, and not a moment sooner. No rain checks." I said, unbuckling my seatbelt.

"As for your first question….while she's extremely trustworthy, Willow's i the worst /i at keeping secrets. Literally. The. Worst."

He looked slightly taken aback but not in a bad way. Embarrassed, maybe.

For some reason, it made my confidence shoot up a couple of notches. I leaned in and kissed him once, on the lips. It was just a little peck—way too brief and far too innocent—but I managed to succeed in shocking him. I opened the car door and slid out, before he could pull me in for more.

"See you tomorrow afternoon, Mr. Cross." I smiled and shut the car door. I sauntered into ISC, now very prepared for some tálbeita ass stomping.


	8. Chapter 8

Ember and I had spent the entire night interrogating Lorlana. She was like no other being I'd ever seen before. She had the strength of a demon. She was sly and calculating, like a vampire and then, of course, she had slight magical powers, the most extensive being her ability to lure anyone into anything she wanted.

If I didn't hate her so much, I'd almost be fascinated. It was then that I slowly realized that I was turning into a much younger, much prettier, mini Giles.

She tried several times to work her luring mojo on me and I was immensely pleased to find out that I wasn't susceptible to it at all.

I wasn't entirely sure if it was a Slayer thing or a mind dominance thing. She needed to exert a certain amount of mind control and I wasn't letting her in.

Or so, that's what I had thought until Ember said it was due to the magics that Willow had barred her cell with.

Eh, whatever. Either way. The most important thing being, I've been thrall-free since my Dracula days and it was going to stay that way.

The night had passed quickly, as it usually does in times of chaos.

During the night, I'd found myself checking my phone periodically, looking for any sort of message from Gideon. I hadn't heard anything from him since he'd dropped us off last night.

I was starting to wonder if kissing him had been the wrong thing to do. I mean, it wasn't an Oscar worthy kiss or anything—just a peck on the lips.

Though, I didn't see that bothering him as he had just asked me to become friends with extra special benefits four days prior. I then had to remind myself that he was probably asleep. It was something the normal people did during nighttime hours.

Currently, Ember and I were sitting my office, exhausted from the exertions of the day before and our all-nighter. Ember said that her magic was waning quicker than usual, most likely due to the mixture of Willow's magics around the cell and to what Lorlana was. Tálbeita might as well have been Icelandic for 'stubborn'.

I may or may not have been nearly asleep on my desk when Dawn strode in, all boss like.

"Buffy, aren't you supposed to be having lunch with Gideon in like, an hour?"

My head shot up.

"What time is it?" I asked.

Dawn looked down her watch. "Five past eleven. I'd probably change my clothes and take a shower first, if I were you. I'm not entirely sure how he would react if showed up at his office smelly and in the same clothes as yesterday…"

"I'm not smelly! Am I smelly?"

"You're a little…grimy."

"Yes."

Ember and Dawn answered at the same time.

"Great. I have no time to go home and do any of that stuff." I said, slightly panicked.

"Well, good luck with that. Smell ya later." Dawn said, exiting.

I wondered if she had only come in to be obnoxious.

"Don't worry, Buffy. I'll take care of it." Ember said, smiling.

"By teleporting me to my apartment, which you're totally welcome to the extra bedroom while you're here, by the way, so I can shower and change? Wow! You're wonderful."

"Well, no. I don't think I've got quite enough power for that at the moment…I was thinking of a little glamour. Something simple and easy."

I was wary. I thought magic was fine and dandy and all until someone wanted to use it on me.

"I don't know…"

"Well, it's either that or you can switch clothes with me."

She was wearing tight, black leather pants, a loose, flowing black halter top and black combat boots. The look screamed 'rogue Slayer' more than it did 'powerful witch'.

"That outfit might give Gideon the wrong idea…" I trailed off, crinkling my nose.

Ember looked at me curiously for a moment, like she was about to comment, but then disregarded it completely.

"Glamouring it is." she grinned, motioning for me to stand up.

I did, hesitantly.

"Cool your nerves, Buffy." she said, reassuringly. "I don't bite."

There was something about the way she had said the last part that left me slightly unsettled. It sounded almost…threatening.

Before I could question her on it, she spun me around, very fast. She grabbed my shoulders and steadied me on the fifth spin. She produced a full length mirror out of nowhere so I could check her work out. Between the almost threatening tone and all the magic she just did, despite her power 'waning', I was starting to wonder about her.

I pushed those thoughts to the side for the time being and checked myself out in the mirror. I would discuss said thoughts later on with Xander and Dawn. I didn't want to worry Willow with it. I knew how hard she was crushing on her and I didn't want to put any unnecessary worry into her head.

Besides being a little paler than normal, from all the dizzy spinning, I was wearing a completely different outfit and totally grime free. My skin was soft. My hair was clean and perfectly styled into big, bouncy curls.

The new outfit was a short, white skirt with a light pink and green floral print. It just barely reached mid-thigh. The top was a matching light pink tank that fit snugly and showed off some cleav. It was tucked into the skirt. A pair of light nude heels topped it off.

"Well? What do you think?" Ember questioned.

Honestly, it was a little bit too Lolita-esque for me, but I wasn't going to tell her that.

"It's great. I love it." I fibbed.

At least it was weather appropriate.

She snapped her fingers and the mirror disappeared.

"I have to get going. Thank you for this." I said, walking towards the door.

"No problem. Knock him dead." she said.

I smiled and walked out.

* * *

I checked in with Gideon's receptionist who I thought glared at me before his assistant walked up to greet me.

"Hello, Miss Summers. Mr. Cross is waiting for you in his office."

"Thanks…Scott was it?"

"Yes, ma'am." he smiled.

I mentally patted myself on the back for remembering someone's name.

He ushered me into Gideon's office and I was just as amazed as I was the first time I'd walked in, exactly one week ago.

Floor-to-ceiling windows overlooked the hustle and bustle of the city on two sides while a wall of glass faced the rest of the office space. The one solid wall, opposite the biggest desk I've ever seen in my life, held numerous flat screens that streamed news channels from all around the world.

His office was bigger than mine and Willow's combined. His was large enough for three separate seating areas—his desk, the plush couch we'd sat at last week and a bar, where he was currently standing, next to our lunch.

It was painted in all blacks, gray's and white's. Very modern and very fitting for Gideon.

He walked away from the bar, while I was properly taking in his office, and to his desk, where he pushed a button. I watched as the glass wall frosted over in a dark sapphire hue. We were most definitely alone now. I briefly wondered if his office was also soundproofed but banished that thought as soon as it appeared. I had to force myself to remember that I wanted to take things slow.

I stopped looking around and focused directly on him. He had the same idea, sort of. It seemed like he was focusing more on my outfit than on me. His eyes held lust but his expression was dark. Disapproving.

"God only knows what my assistant is going to think with you walking in here dressed like that and me frosting the glass." he said, finally speaking.

"Well, if he reads the blogs, he won't think anything of it."

He gestured to the bar and I sat. He removed the lids off of our two plates of food. Seeing the giant chicken and shrimp salad made me smile. He'd listened.

He sat down on my right and started picking at his cheeseburger.

We ate in awkward silence for a few minutes while I figured how to start. We had so much to discuss and only an hour to do it in. Him stalking me via Willow, our feelings towards one another, possibly my Slayer heritage if I got the courage up and finally, if we were still speaking to each other, the benefit on Saturday night. I decided to just go right down the list.

"My salad is delicious. It must've been hard deciding what to order for me without being able to consult Willow."

I went with sarcastic humor. It hadn't led me astray yet.

He stopped chewing and swallowed, hard. He washed his bite down with a swig from a water bottle.

"A little birdie told me that this was your favorite meal from your favorite deli." he responded.

We were silent for another minute before I responded.

"I should be mad. Enraged."

"Buffy, I can—"

"You're basically using my best friend to stalk me."

"I—"

"Shut up. I'm not done talking." I said, forcefully.

The expression on his face was hysterical. He clearly was not used to being talked to like that by a woman and it showed. I wanted to pull my phone out and snap a picture so I could continue laughing at it later but I refrained.

"Sorry," I continued. "That was really rude. I'm not mad, is what I'm trying to say."

He stared at me for several excruciatingly long minutes, not saying anything. His expression was unreadable and he didn't touch his lunch.

"I know I should be. I should be every single synonym for the word 'mad', and I think, if it were anyone else, I would be."

"Anyone else? Why am I getting the special treatment?" he asked.

"I wish I knew." I replied, honestly. "When Willow was telling me everything yesterday, in the coffee shop, I should've been absolutely appalled. I should've been pissed at both of you. Instead, I found it kind of…adorable."

"Adorable?" he questioned with a cocked eyebrow.

"Okay, 'adorable' might not have been the best terminology. I just meant that I was…flattered. With that being said, kindly stop going through my best friend for info on me. Willow's got too much on her plate right now to be fielding calls from you everyday and, on my part, the flattery is pretty close to running it's course."

I tried not to make it sound too threatening. I didn't want to scare him off forever but I did want him to stop bothering Willow.

"Then how would I know anything about you at all?" he countered, tossing a french fry in his mouth.

I knew that he hadn't meant it seriously, that he was being amusing, but it rubbed me the wrong way.

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe you could try asking me?"

I tried infusing a bit of humor in my voice and failed miserably. It came out sounding frustrated and harsh.

He chewed slowly and took another sip of his water.

"So, Buffy, where are you from?" he asked.

I stared at him as I chewed a piece of shrimp. Was he really doing this?

"California." I answered, with a smile.

"Where in California?"

"I was born in Los Angeles and lived there until I was sixteen. My parents got divorced so my mom moved Dawn and I to a town about two-ish hours away called Sunnydale."

"How old are you now?"

"Twenty-seven. How old are you?"

"Twenty-eight."

That shocked me a bit. I thought he was at least somewhere between thirty and thirty-five. To have amassed as much as he has by such a young age is nothing short of incredible.

"Did you go to college? Where?" he asked.

"I did for a little bit. UC Sunnydale. I stopped part way through and then couldn't really ever get re-enrolled again."

"Why did you stop?"

"I stopped when our mom got sick. Taking care of her was more important than classes."

"I agree." he said, quietly.

I'd done a little bit of homework on him when we'd gotten back last night. I made Willow divulge what she had been about to say at the coffee shop when he'd entered. One part of it was that his father had died when he was five.

We ate in silence for another few minutes, just biding time until we addressed the elephant in the room. The entire circus, in my case.

"You seem adverse to a casual relationship." Gideon said.

I put my fork down. "That's correct."

"Why is that? A lot of women your age do it."

"I'm not them."

"No, you're not." he said, quietly agreeing with me.

"I've tried it twice before. It didn't work. That's the end."

"Just because it didn't work with the other two doesn't mean it wouldn't work for us."

I sighed. "Gideon, I can't. I just can't do it. The first time, I got my heart broken. The second time, we both got our hearts broken. I can't. I just can't deal with that again. I need my relationships to have meaning. I need to be friends as well as lovers."

"I have female friends and I don't usually mix the two."

"I don't blame you. Girls are nothing but drama." I semi-joked.

He smiled but it didn't hold any actual humor in it. "What's your idea of a relationship, Buffy?"

"Two people who are mutually exclusive to each other. They hang out, alone or with their friends. They have the occasional date, maybe even some double dates with said friends. They know that it's okay to have a little bit of space from one another every so often but then when they reunite, their passion is incredible, even if they were only separated for a few hours. They have to be honest with each other as well as understanding."

He mulled my response over for a minute before answering. "Passion, I can do and pretty well, I might add. I think you know that. You want honesty? Relationships mean romance. I can't do romance."

I sighed. "Then you and I have nothing more to discuss. Thank you for your time, Mr. Cross." I stood and headed for the door.

"Like hell. Sit back down." he said, coming after me and grabbing my elbow.

"If you can't commit, I'm not interested. Compromise, Gideon. Everyone needs t to give a little to get a little. I've told you my feelings on casual relationships. I'm not interested in having one ever again. It nearly killed me the last time. I won't let that happen again."

I needed to have some sort of self preservation.

"Not to mention," I continued. "I have much, much bigger things going on right now. Things that I should be devoting all my time and attention to and yet, here I am, with you."

"If they're so important, then why are you here?" he asked. His tone was cold.

"I have no idea. I can't seem to get you out of my head. It's maddening."

"I know the feeling." he whispered.

"So what do we do? I want commitment and you say that you can't give me that."

"Let's revisit and revise." he said, calming his voice and sitting on the sofa. He gestured for me to sit next to him. I declined and sat in the chair across from him.

"You like me and I like you." he continued. "We are both painfully aware of the outstanding chemistry between us and we both want to do something about it but you refuse to unless we are in a relationship. Is that correct?"

I nodded.

"And your definition of a relationship is spending time together, both sexually and non sexually. Dinner, dancing, dates…that sort of thing.? You need honesty, understanding and for us to be mutually exclusive?"

"That pretty much sums it up, Ace."

"Okay, done."

My eyes widened as I took in what he said.

"Wait, what?"

"You said compromise. I'm compromising. I refuse to let you walk away from me."

"So, you're agreeing to be my boyfriend?" I asked, astonished and slightly embarrassed. I felt like I was in junior high asking.

"I am." he said, looking just as wary as I'm sure I did. "I should warn you…I'm not going to be very good at it, at first anyway. It's new to me. I'm going to fuck up a lot. You should know that."

This was it. I knew it. If we were going to do this, I had to tell him.

"Yeah, well, I've heard I'm a lousy girlfriend so at least we're compatible."

"You're not 'lousy'. You could never be 'lousy'." he said, seriously.

"You might want to hold that thought…if we're going to do this, I want to start this off right. No secrets. You may not want anything to do with me after I say what I have to say."

"I find that impossible to believe but you have my attention. Please go on."

I stood up and started pacing, trying to think of how to start. I finally settled on doing it just how I would if I were pulling one of the Mini's away from their home.

"So you're probably not going to believe me and you're probably going to think I'm crazy but I just need you to hear me the whole way out, okay? No interruptions, just listening."

"Alright." he said, warily.

I launched into the i 'the world is older than you know'/i speech. I gave him the short version, stopping just at the present. I left off the issue that we were dealing with right now, not wanting him to know quite yet.

We were both silent as I stood there, all bare and vulnerable, preparing myself for the worst.

He took a deep breath and then came out with the last words I'd ever expect him to say.

"Buffy, I know."

I stared at him, open mouthed and in shock.

"What did you just say?"

"I said, I know. You're a Slayer. The Slayer. I know."

Absolutely dumbfounded, I sat back down. I managed to croak out something that sounded like a 'how'.

"My cousin. She was a, um, what's the terminology you use? A potential? She was my cousin on my father's side and my best friend when were younger. She helped me through some very rough times. My mother never really cared for her, especially after she remarried, but my step-father told her to be tolerant and to leave us be. That she could be a good influence for me. I was a bit of a troublemaker back then…anyway, one day, she stopped coming around. I figured that my mother had finally gotten her way."

I had absolutely no idea what to think. My mind was totally blank.

"Sam, that's her name, showed up a few months later. She was different. She looked different. She had been really loud and fun but she was quiet now. She looked older, somehow. We're fairly close in age so I thought it strange. That night, she explained to me where she'd gone and why. London to train for a potential new job. I told her to stop being stupid. We were only about fifteen at the time. She couldn't of been serious. She took me out and showed me how serious she was."

"She…she took you out? She showed you a…oh my god. Didn't she realize how dangerous that was? You could've been killed."

"Fifteen and stupid. Have you been there?"

"Oh god yes." I answered, instantly.

"Needless to say, I instantly believed her. She said she had to leave again for awhile. She came back after another month and said someone else had been chosen."

I involuntarily gulped. "Me."

He nodded. "She was upset but she understood. She finished school and moved off. We kept in touch, here and there. She joined a special branch in the military—"

This was starting to sound oddly familiar.

"—The Initiative?" I asked, cutting in.

"Yes, how did you know?"

"They were fairly present where I lived for awhile."

"She's visited a few times, when she's in the area. The last time I saw her was a few years ago. She'd just gotten married and I made her bring her husband out so we could meet."

The hairs on the back of my neck stood straight up. I forced myself to swallow the rising lump in my throat.

"By chance, would his name happen to be Riley Finn?"

His gaze darted anywhere but at me. "It was. I know that you and he also have…history."

"How in the fuck do you know that?!" I yelled, the curse surprising me.

"Willow told me when I explained all this to her and Rupert."

"And when was that?" I asked, getting madder by the second.

"When we started the investing process. I asked her to not tell you that I knew. I wanted to do it myself."

I closed my eyes and took several, deep, calming breaths. I needed to calm down.

Gideon was silent, letting me soak up and process all the new information. I was grateful.

How could Willow not tell me that he already knew? That Sam was his cousin? Samantha Finn used to be Samantha Cross, potential Slayer extraordinaire. Funny old world.

Also, funny how she hadn't mentioned that when we first met….oh well. It was a long time ago. No use in getting riled up about it.

I knew I couldn't blame Willow. She was only doing as asked. All her pushing the day before made sense now.

At least he confessed to knowing, right? He could've just pretended that he knew nothing. I think that probably would've been way worse, in the long run.

I opened my eyes and turned to him. "Since you clearly know all about me, through Willow and Sam, it's time I know about you. Except I'm not going to go delving around for answers. I want them straight from the source."

"What do you want to know? Anything at all. Please ask."

"Well, I know the measly stuff…your family and all that."

"You do, huh?" he asked, amused.

"Remember last night when I mentioned that Willow's terrible at secrets? She's also amazing at hacking private information and said secrets out of computers."

His eyes immediately lost the amusement that they had held. He visibly paled and I thought I saw him tremble a little.

"She didn't hack you. I promise." I said. I felt horrible about the lie as it was coming out. I hope he never found out otherwise I'm pretty sure Willow and I would both be in for it.

"I was just saying that she could. It was a horrible attempt at a joke. I would never ask her to do that to you." I added.

He relaxed a little. I found his reaction strange. He obviously had something worth hiding then.

"Though, a man that reacts like that definitely has something to hide."

"Buffy—"

"You're not ready to talk about it. That's fine. I get it. I have my share of those too. We'll get there." I said. I smiled and patted his arm, reassuringly.

He smiled but it didn't even come close to reaching his eyes. They were sad and alone.

"Though, if it would spare you the pain of talking about it, I could always have Willow use her hacking skills. You'd never have to talk about it and I could just pretend like I don't know a thing. I'm pretty good at that."

"Elizabeth, no."

The sound of my given name shocked me. So this was serious then. His expression changed to hard and stern, like I was an errant child. In many ways, that was probably not far from the truth.

"Gideon, I would never do that to you."

"But you have done it. To other people."

"Yes, but—"

"So what makes me any different? You've hacked information on probably thousands of people. Why not me? Why not one more?" he roared. He stood up and paced his way over to the window. He ran his hands through his hair.

His anger frightened me in more ways than one and that's saying a lot. His tone was venomous.

"When we do something like that, it's never done in fun or games. Sometimes, it's missing people. Sometimes, it's bad people. Sometimes, it's location based, but whatever it is, it's done because it's the only way. Do you think I like invading people's lives like that? Of course not. It makes me feel slimy. In certain cases, we just don't have a choice."

He didn't say anything. He just stood, hands in his pockets, looking out over the city. I glanced over at the bar. Our meals had been long forgotten.

I decided to try a slightly different approach.

I walked over and stood next to him. I linked my arm through his and gently pulled him to face me. He resisted so I pulled a little harder, forcing him to look at me.

There were tears in his eyes. I immediately softened and instantly regretted bringing up anything hacker related.

"Hey, what's with this, huh?" I asked, reaching up to wipe his eyes. He smiled, slightly and unlinked our arms. He turned back around, taking a minute to compose himself.

"If you ever found out my secret, you'd pack your bags, leave this city and never come back."

I laughed loudly and it caught him off guard.

"Sorry. I know that's probably not the reaction you had in mind." I said, composing myself. "It's just the thought of me running away from here because of whatever your secret is, is hysterical."

"May I ask why?"

"Secrets? Please. I'm the Queen of Secrets! Slayer equals secret identity."

"I have to say, you're quite horrible at it." he smiled.

"Tell me about it."

The mood lightened instantly and I was eternally grateful.

"Is that your only secret? Your job title?"

"Not even close."

"Can you share one more?"

"I'll show you mine if you show me yours."

He sighed.

"I'm not going to run away. I promise. It's amazing the things I'm willing to overlook when I care about someone. Ask Dawn about her klepto phase. It doesn't have to be today. Whenever you are ready. I promise I won't push."

He smiled and lifted his hands to my face, cupping it. His touch was so warm, so inviting. I leaned in and closed my eyes, relishing the warmth.

Not to sound totally idiotic, but there was such a difference between a vampire's touch and a human's. The vampires were cold and unfeeling, with the exception of Angel in the beginning.

Gideon's touch was the exact opposite. I suddenly understood what Dracula meant all that time ago about 'yearning'.

I opened my eyes and stood as tall as I could get, which was pretty tall thanks to these heels. I leaned in, going for a nuzzle against his neck, but ending up in a full blown, passionate kiss. I'm not entirely sure who started it but at that moment, it didn't matter.

We were both just mouths, hands and raw passion. The sparks I always felt around him had vanished, more than likely sated for the time being.

He moved his hands down and slid them under my skirt. He grabbed me by the hips and pushed me back towards his desk. I hopped up on it, our lips never breaking. My hands slid into his jacket, pushing it off of his arms. His hands slid down my waist and un-tucked the pink tank top from my skirt. He pulled it up and over my head, our lips only parting for a fraction of a second.

I loosened his tie and started to unbutton his shirt when there was a loud buzz followed by his assistant's voice.

"Mr. Cross, your two o'clock meeting is here and waiting in the conference room, sir."

He broke our kiss and cursed loudly, presumably in frustration.

I, however, was grateful for the chance to breathe. What in the hell was I doing? Didn't I just tell Willow that I thought we were moving too fast? Wait, did he say two o'clock?

"Damn it!" I yelled. I hopped off of his desk, picking my tank top up and slipping it back on. I had promised to be back by one-thirty so Ember and I could discuss tálbeita's and witches with Willow.

"Don't go, Buffy. Please. I'll tell them the meeting is cancelled."

"Sorry," I said, tucking my shirt back in. "I have a meeting of my own I'm late for."

"Cancel it."

"I really, really wish I could but it's Slayer-y." I combed through my hair with my hands, trying to judge how bad it was without a mirror.

Gideon smiled and said "You can freshen up in my washroom. It's right over there."

I grabbed my bag. "No time. I'm so far past late it's not even funny."

"Can we finish this tonight?" he asked, his eyes still filled with lust.

"Remember the understanding thing?"

"Yes.." he said.

"That comes in with my job. It's not your normal nine-to-five. There's something big going on right now and like I said, I shouldn't even be here now…I just…I just have friends and family that love me and—anyway, it might be a few days before we see each other again."

"I understand." he sighed.

"See? See how easy that was?" I smiled.

He rolled his eyes at me.

"Thanks for lunch, and, you know, the make out session."

He grinned. "It was my pleasure."

I was halfway through his door when I remembered something. I stuck my head back in.

He was buttoning his shirt and fixing his tie.

"Hey Gideon?"

He looked up at me.

"Wanna be my date Saturday night?"

* * *

**A/N:** In case you couldn't tell, I've changed Samantha Finn's story around a bit :)


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